With the Plant a Seed campaign, Slow Food USA invites growers to engage with climate and nutrition in our gardens and on our plates.
Our 2023 campaign celebrates greens and the communities who celebrate them. If you grew the our Plant a Seed kit in your garden this year, then you know that two greens in particular have been rockstar standouts deserving of celebration: fluffy Matilde Escarole and impressive Ultracross Collard!
This fall, we’re encouraging you to engage with these greens during their very own weeks highlighting their place in our communities, gardens and plates. However you choose to participate, we know you will grow to love these exceptional allies in nutrition, climate resilience and our kitchens!
Thanks for celebrating escarole, radicchio, endive and all the other incredible forms chicory takes in our gardens and on our plates! Here are some resources you can use to enjoy chicories all year long.
CHICORY BEVERAGES FROM SLOW DRINKS
Slow Food USA friend and Slow Drinks author Danny Childs loaned us this bitterly beatific duo of recipes to celebrate Chicory Week. Cheers!
CHICORY COFFEE
MAKES 1 ¾ c /415 ml
Chicory grounds are more soluble than regular coffee, so use half the amount you would with ground coffee if you intend to consume it on its own (approximately 1 Tbsp per c/240 ml). Here, I’ve increased the ratio of grinds to water to make a highly concentrated brew with a flavor that’s more similar to espresso.
INGREDIENTS:
4 Tbsp/60 ml roasted ground chicory root (from approximately 1 ft/30 cm of ½ in/1.3 cm diameter root)
2 c/475 ml boiling water
PREPARATION:
To brew, slowly pour the boiling water over the ground chicory root in a pour-over cone set on top of a large mug. You may also
use a drip coffee machine. Drink it fresh or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within a week.
CAFÉ CHICORÉE
MAKES 1 COCKTAIL
INGREDIENTS:
1 ¾ oz/52 ml cognac
1 oz/30 ml Chicory Coffee (see page 269) [in the book]
½ oz/15 ml coffee liqueur such as Caffé Borghetti, Kahlua, or Mr. Black
¼ oz/8 ml rich demerara syrup (see page 25) [in the book]
Dash of Angostura bitters
PREPARATION:
Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and add the cognac, chicory coffee, coffee liqueur, demerara syrup, and bitters. Shake vigorously
and double strain into a chilled Martini coupe. Dry shake it again without ice if you want it extra foamy. No garnish.
SLOW FOOD USA’S COLLARD WEEK SCHEDULE
Monday
Partner highlight video from Trial to Table
Tuesday
Share your collard garden pictures and tag #CollardWeek2023
Wednesday
Slow Food Live cooking demo and cocktail recipe
Thursday
Celebrate collards at a participating restaurant
Friday
Learn the history of — and make — a collard sandwich
Saturday
Social media content featuring vendors at farmers’ markets who sell collards
Sunday
Thank you post and link to all the week’s content
Ways you can engage with COLLARD Week
School and community gardens
- Do a garden walk and explore collards you’re growing
- Learn the different varieties of collards
- Create a lesson plan about collards
- Grill or cook some greens from the garden
Snail of Approval and Cooks’ Alliance
- Feature a collards dish on your menu for the week
- Share a recipe or collards demo on social media
Farmers’ markets
- Talk to a farmer about the collards they are growing
- Do a market walk highlighting the collards you see and broadcast it to your social media followers
Chapter-led event
- Host a potluck with collards as the theme
- Share recipes, do a raffle for bingo card completions and celebrate greens
CELEBRATE ON SOCIAL MEDIA
- Tag @slowfoodusa and use #plantaseed2023 #collardweek2023 on every collard-related post so that we see it and may repost via Slow Food USA’s Stories
- Our partners for the week is @heirloomcollards — please tag them, too!
- Thank local participants in your posts — chefs, restaurants, farmers, etc. — by tagging them
We thank our sponsor for their support!
