Get to Know Your Greens

Greens are packed with vitamins and iron, and the variety available in supermarkets keeps growing. Here's a rough guide to help you recognize some of the trendy and nasty greens you may find in your favorite restaurants and cookbooks:

Bok choy, a form of Chinese cabbage, has smooth, deep green oval leaves that taper into light green or creamy white crisp stalks. Both the mildly sharp leaves and the sweet-flavored stems are edible.

Kale has curly leaves that look tough, but soften with cooking and retain their mildly sharp taste. Long simmering or reheating will not destroy kale's commanding flavor or firm texture.

Turnip greens look like large, fuzzy radish leaves and have a sharp taste. They are best when blanched first and combined with other ingredients.

Mustard greens have slightly fuzzy bright green oval leaves with frilly, serrated edges with a yellow tint. Their sharp, sometimes bitter taste mellows when cooked in broth.

Collard greens have large, smooth, leathery dark green leaves that have a mildly assertive flavor. Be sure to cut off the tough, inedible stems at the base of the leaves when preparing collard greens.

Swiss chard has a contrast of dark green leaves against crisp flat, white stems. It comes in both white-ribbed and red-ribbed varieties which both taste sweet and earthy.