Swiss Chard

Swiss Chard

Red Chard
© Denzil Green

Swiss Chard, though a member of the beet family, doesn't develop the large root that beets do. Instead, they are grown for their leaves and thick, edible stalks, which are treated as Greens or Pot Herbs and cooked.

The plant will grow anywhere from 20 to 28 inches tall (50 to 70 cm).

Almost all varieties of Swiss Chard have savoyed (wrinkly) large dark-green leaves. Most have either red stalks or white stalks, but one variety, Lucullus, grows with pale green stems.

Most Chard varieties will start growing in gardens while the weather is still cool, and keep on growing, even after the first few chills of the fall.

Chard can be used as a "cut and come again" vegetable. You harvest the outer leaves, and leave the inner ones, which will keep on growing.

Red Chard
Swiss Chard with red stalks. It has a stronger flavour than the variety with white stalks. Sometimes, it almost looks like rhubarb. Varieties include Burpees Rhubarb Chard (also called Ruby Chard), Crimson Giant Swiss Chard, and Ruby Red.

White Chard
Swiss chard that has white stalks instead of red stalks. The leaves are still generally green and savoyed. Milder taste than Red Chard; a bit more toothsome. Varieties include Argentata (an Italian breed), Fordhook Giant, Large White Ribbed, Paros and Silverado.

Cooking Tips
Wash, and cook with the water that is on the leaves after washing.

The stalks, boiled, steamed or microwaved on their own, can be treated like asparagus and served in a butter and lemon sauce. Or you can bake the stalks in a cheese sauce with a breadcrumb topping. Cut stalks into 2 to 3 inch (5 to 7.5 cm) pieces.

You can also just chop the leaves and the stalks together and cook them together.

Substitutes

Nutrition
Good source vitamins A & C.

Equivalents
1 pound (450g) fresh Chard = 4 cups stalk plus 5 1/2 cups leaves = 1 1/2 cups cooked stalk plus 1 cup cooked leaves

Storage
Freezes well.

History
Swiss Chard was accidentally discovered in Switzerland. It was thought to be a variety of Cardoon, which the French name for is "chardon". Turns out, it was actually a beet whose root had just shrivelled. Beets originally grew with almost no roots to speak of: the large-shaped beet root that we are now familiar with seems to have come about in the 1500s.

Also called: Chard Leaf Beet Leaf Chard Seakale Beet Silver Beet Spinach Beet White Beet Beta vulgaris var cicla (Scientific Name) Bette à carde (French) Bietola (Italian) Acelga (Spanish)