The traditional preparation of collards follows a simple recipe. First, they are "crapped" (cut at the base of a stalk), then "looked" (searched for worms), then cooked on a low boil until tender, usually with fatback, neck, or backbone added. The resultant "mess o' greens," topped with a generous helping of vinegar, can easily make a meal in itself. Pot liquor, or "likker," the juice left in the pot after the greens are gone, is a southern version of nectar from the gods and is valued both as a delicacy-particularly when sopped with cornbread-and for its alleged powers as an aphrodisiac.
Southern childhood memories often include images of collard greens, perhaps the jarring first whiff of the unmistakable odor for which greens are renowned, or, more likely, the pleasant, loving connection of grandma's iron pot and steaming pot liquor. Particularly among rural and poor southerners, collard greens have endured as a dietary staple. Some southerners claim collards kept Union general William T. Sherman's scorched-earth policy from totally starving the South into submission; many North Carolina families in the early 2000s are living testament to surviving Great Depression winters with greens, fatback, and cornbread.
Collards are usually grown for culinary purposes, but southerners have been known to decorate a particularly brilliant plant as a Christmas tree. Thelonious Monk, the great jazz musician from Rocky Mount, wore a collard leaf in his lapel while playing New York City club dates. Collards were first officially celebrated in 1950, when playwright Paul Green led a "Collards and Culture" symposium in Dunn and other North Carolina cities.