Sukuma wiki is an East African dish made with collard greens, known as , cooked with

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' , from Latin ), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the onion which was classifie ...

s and

spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

s. It is often served and eaten with ugali (made from maize flour). In

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

and other parts of

East Africa East Africa, also known as Eastern Africa or the East of Africa, is a region at the eastern edge of the Africa, African continent, distinguished by its unique geographical, historical, and cultural landscape. Defined in varying scopes, the regi ...

, colewort are more commonly known by their Swahili name, ''sukuma'', and are often referred to as collard greens. It is also commonly mistaken for kale. The literal translation of the phrase 'sukuma wiki' is to "push the week" or "stretch the week". It is a vegetable that is generally affordable and available all-year round in this region. It forms part of the staple dish in this region together with ugali or sima. Sakuma is also known as "agaar" in the Somali language and is part of Somali culture.

Description

The cultivar group name ''Acephala'' ("without a head" in Greek) refers to the fact that this variety of ''B. oleracea'' does not have the usual close-knit core of leaves (a "head") like cabbage. The plant is a biennial where winter frost occurs, and

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

in even colder regions. It is also moderately sensitive to salinity. It has an upright stalk, often growing up to two feet tall. The plant is very similar and closely related to kale. The preparation is different from traditional preparation of collard greens in the United States.

Cultivation and storage

The plant is commercially cultivated for its thick, slightly bitter, edible leaves. For best texture, the leaves should be picked before they reach their maximum size, at which stage the leaves will be thicker and should be cooked differently from the new leaves. Age will not affect flavor. Flavor and texture also depend on the

cultivar A cultivar is a kind of Horticulture, cultivated plant that people have selected for desired phenotypic trait, traits and which retains those traits when Plant propagation, propagated. Methods used to propagate cultivars include division, root a ...

; the ''couve-manteiga'' and ''couve tronchuda'' are especially appreciated in

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and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Culinary use

Sukuma wiki has been eaten for at least 2,000 years, with evidence showing that the

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

cultivated several forms of both colewort and kale. In the Congo,

and

(East Africa), thinly sliced colewort are the main accompaniments of a popular dish known as ugali (also sometimes called sima, sembe or posho), a corn flour cake. Sukuma wiki is mainly lightly sauteed in oil until tender, flavored with onions and seasoned with salt, which can be served either as the main accompaniment or as a side dish with preferred meat (fish, chicken, beef, pork). Fresh sukuma wiki leaves can be stored for up to 10 days if refrigerated to just above freezing (1 °C) at high humidity (>95%). In domestic refrigerators, fresh colewort can be stored for about three days. Once cooked, they can be frozen and stored for greater lengths of time.

References

{{Brassica Leaf vegetables Brassica Ugandan cuisine Kenyan cuisine Tanzanian cuisine