— Mary Gerstein

The stems of all of these leafy greens, we call them greens, even if they're not green. Uh, but all these big leafy vegetables, uh, have edible stems as well. Um, again, there might be an exception out there, but for the most part, they're edible. And, uh, you know, understand that, um, for the stem right, the fibers run lengthwise. So if we slice perpendicular to the, the fiber, you're going to get the most tender sort of a product, okay? Rather than just cooking this hole and then trying to chew on it. Uh, it, it can be very, um, very fibrous, and, and we might not ever break it down during the meal period. Um, so slicing it, um, across the, the grain, uh, is gonna be the first thing to do. You can slice on a bias if you want, or just perpendicular either way, it produces aesthetically different presentations, but, uh, either is fine. Okay? And then, uh, apply some, well, uh, I guess you have a choice. You can apply heat or not apply heat, okay? Um, if your pieces are, let's say, you know, relatively big, uh, then you, you might wanna break, uh, down the fibers through the application of heat, whether it's a moist heat cooking method like steaming, uh, or a dry heat method, such as, uh, saute, uh, your choice. Okay? Um, if you slice very, very thinly, uh, then it certainly is possible that, uh, you can, uh, consume the, the stems, uh, raw and by just adding to, uh, a salad, uh, or you can add them to a stir fry, um, just, uh, at the very end, just fold them in, uh, where they we're not, they're not getting, uh, cooked per se, but just getting heated up, uh, for service. Okay? And so those are a, a couple of, uh, choices. And, um, and then flavoring, it, of course, is up to you, you know, have fun. I always recommend spices and the use of, uh, fresh herbs, okay? And you can, uh, consult books like, uh, the Flavor Bible, uh, or the vegetarian flavor Bible, uh, as starting points for how to, to, uh, bring different, uh, flavoring ingredients together to create different effects. Okay? There are other resources too, but those are a couple of examples.