Our farmer girl leaves early and comes home dirty. She brings back the spare clump of radishes, the stray gourd and bulging bags of mustard greens. A slight, dirt-streaked Santa, she heaves her sacks onto the kitchen table: green gifts to last all summer.
Or so it seems.
Mustard greens, in the raw, growl big and bitter. They take some taming. Here on the homestead, we trim away the burly backbones, blanch out the bitter, and temper the leaves tender. Glazed sweet and spicy, the greens crouch low in the bowl and overflow with flavor.
Like much from the farm, they clean up nicely.