Best Tasting Swiss Chard - Page 2

Patihum · February 2, 2019

Won't taste like dirt if you make pickles out of the stems! Really pretty in the jar when you use red/pink chard.

Ingredients

Swiss chard stems, chopped 1/2 inch square or so
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons Sriracha
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

Make a mixture of vinegar and sugar, then stir in onions, Sriracha, and celery seeds.
Pour it all over the chopped stems, using 3 cups liquid for every 1 1/2 cups chopped stems.
Throw it in the refrigerator for a few days, and you've got the ultimate refrigerator pickles.

imp · February 2, 2019

The accepted name for all beet cultivars, like chard, sugar beet and beetroot, is Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chard

Yes, the chard IS a beet green, it does not make the same sort of root as a table beet or sugar beet does.

Patihum, have made those type pickles with longer stems left whole on the skinnier ones like Bright Lights. Split the fordhooks into 2 or 3 length wise pieces.

TC_Manhattan · February 2, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

Chard is not a beet green but they are kinfolks.

I like raw chard for BCT's 'Bacon Chard and Tomato' sandwiches
Chard on burgers instead of lettuce.
Chard salad.
Cooked chard with salt and butter.
Chard just about anything.
The only reason I ever liked chard to begin with was the Swiss in Swiss Chard.
As a small boy if it was Swiss it just had to be good.

Makers of all things well made and good.

Ha, ha, Worth. I think that was the old Nestle's chocolate logo..

Having never grown it, I have purchased it numerous times at the grocery.
It is/was organic, and I de-stem it, slice the leaves in strips, chop the stems like
celery, and sauté it with minced fresh garlic in EVOO, with a splash of dry vermouth or
white wine. Doesn't taste of dirt to me.

Not sure if that's because it's organic, or what. May even be hydroponic for all I know.

Will be quite interesting to see if what I grow outside tastes different from what
I can buy.

TC_Manhattan · February 2, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patihum

Won't taste like dirt if you make pickles out of the stems! Really pretty in the jar when you use red/pink chard.

Ingredients

Swiss chard stems, chopped 1/2 inch square or so
1 cup distilled white vinegar
2 cups sugar
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons Sriracha
1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

Make a mixture of vinegar and sugar, then stir in onions, Sriracha, and celery seeds.
Pour it all over the chopped stems, using 3 cups liquid for every 1 1/2 cups chopped stems.
Throw it in the refrigerator for a few days, and you've got the ultimate refrigerator pickles.

Thank you for this recipe!
It sounds wonderful. And easy!

imp · February 2, 2019

Ooops, I didn't use Siracha just did a fridge quick pickle, like a dill pickle? They are always good to me that way.

DonDuck · February 2, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by salix

Love chard, any and all varieties. Sometimes when the weather is JUST right, the leaves will grow to ginormous size, rivalling rhubarb. Then I use them for "fake cabbage" rolls...

Good idea! The largest leaves softened in hot water and use them to replace grape leaves and cabbage in rolls.

DonDuck · February 2, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by Worth1

Chard is not a beet green but they are kinfolks.

I like raw chard for BCT's 'Bacon Chard and Tomato' sandwiches
Chard on burgers instead of lettuce.
Chard salad.
Cooked chard with salt and butter.
Chard just about anything.
The only reason I ever liked chard to begin with was the Swiss in Swiss Chard.
As a small boy if it was Swiss it just had to be good.

Makers of all things well made and good.

Yep, beets produce beets. Chard doesn't.

I was surprised to realize how much the Bok Choy I harvested today tasted like the Chard in my garden. It also has a spicy finish in the mouth like my mustard greens. I should have a really good harvest of beets, carrots, and turnips before long. I haven't figured out why I grow turnips. I don't like to eat them and no one in my family likes them. I used to plant them in empty spaces on my deer lease. The deer ate them like candy.

Watching my asparagus bed closely to see them pop up soon. They grow so fast, they can be tall and tough in a couple of days.

Worth1 · February 2, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by TC_Manhattan

Ha, ha, Worth. I think that was the old Nestle's chocolate logo..

Having never grown it, I have purchased it numerous times at the grocery.
It is/was organic, and I de-stem it, slice the leaves in strips, chop the stems like
celery, and sauté it with minced fresh garlic in EVOO, with a splash of dry vermouth or
white wine. Doesn't taste of dirt to me.

Not sure if that's because it's organic, or what. May even be hydroponic for all I know.

Will be quite interesting to see if what I grow outside tastes different from what
I can buy.

I was thinking of knives and clocks forgot all about chocolate.

bower · February 2, 2019

Hey that pickle is a great idea!

I had chard in the greenhouse one late winter, and it was really good, super tender, not too earthy at all even while it was bolting (six ft tall!!). That was "Bright Lights".

But I've heard that they produce more bitter compounds in their second year. So the fresh young stalks are probably the best.

We do grow organic and yes, it still tastes the same.

imp · February 2, 2019

Sorry Don, chard and beets are two of the same thing, just one produces a root vegetable we use and the other is grown for the greens. Like rat tail radishes that are grown for the seed pods and greens and produce no fattened root like other radish plants do.

edit:

If you do not care for cooked turnips, have you ever tried them pickled or sliced or julianned thinly into salads, raw that is. I am not crazy about cooked turnips, but the small raw ones are often juicy and sort of sweet. Good added into a coleslaw too.

I forgot, breaded and fried, like you would summer squash; good that way, too. Slice the turnips, salt them to draw moisture rinse, pat dry, bread as you want, fry.

salix · February 3, 2019

... if you leave the chard plants long enough, you will indeed get very large gnarly roots to wrestle out of the ground. At least some of them, ask me how I know!

Worth1 · February 3, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by salix

... if you leave the chard plants long enough, you will indeed get very large gnarly roots to wrestle out of the ground. At least some of them, ask me how I know!

Mine got so big it had a gravitational pull.

February 3, 2019

Quote:

Originally Posted by DonDuck

I haven't figured out why I grow turnips. I don't like to eat them and no one in my family likes them.

If you haven't tried it already, give fermenting them a shot - it's easy in a simple salt brine, and the result is crispy, crunchy, savory, and delicious. Nothing like cooked at all! I do the same with Rutabagas but the turnips are always gone first!

Haven't grown Swiss Chard in a couple years but now I might, just to see if it's any good pickled and fermented. So many "earthy" tasting foods are. Thanks for the recipe, Patihum!

bower · February 3, 2019

One of our local chefs experimented with the big ol chard roots one year... not sure how that turned out.
What is truly amazing to me, is that besides tolerating frost, cold, low light etc which it gets on both ends of the season here, that chard also is the survivor of Texas summers!

Seems like some kind of 'universal survival food', no matter what conditions.
Might be worth having some in the garden for that reason alone!

imp · February 3, 2019

After the third year of the same plants, I was tired of the chard and chopped it down and dug it out to plant something else in the CG plot. It as still producing good and usable leaves, but just too much. Those were the Bright Light and Rhubarb Red varieties, some almost 4 ft. tall by the 3rd year.

February 2, 2019	#17
imp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 4,832	The accepted name for all beet cultivars, like chard, sugar beet and beetroot, is Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chard Yes, the chard IS a beet green, it does not make the same sort of root as a table beet or sugar beet does. Patihum, have made those type pickles with longer stems left whole on the skinnier ones like Bright Lights. Split the fordhooks into 2 or 3 length wise pieces. __________________ I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing. Last edited by imp; February 2, 2019 at 06:38 PM.

February 2, 2019	#20
imp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 4,832	Ooops, I didn't use Siracha just did a fridge quick pickle, like a dill pickle? They are always good to me that way. __________________ I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing.

February 2, 2019	#25
imp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 4,832	Sorry Don, chard and beets are two of the same thing, just one produces a root vegetable we use and the other is grown for the greens. Like rat tail radishes that are grown for the seed pods and greens and produce no fattened root like other radish plants do. edit: If you do not care for cooked turnips, have you ever tried them pickled or sliced or julianned thinly into salads, raw that is. I am not crazy about cooked turnips, but the small raw ones are often juicy and sort of sweet. Good added into a coleslaw too. I forgot, breaded and fried, like you would summer squash; good that way, too. Slice the turnips, salt them to draw moisture rinse, pat dry, bread as you want, fry. __________________ I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing. Last edited by imp; February 2, 2019 at 10:14 PM.

February 3, 2019	#26
salix Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: north central B.C. Posts: 2,310	... if you leave the chard plants long enough, you will indeed get very large gnarly roots to wrestle out of the ground. At least some of them, ask me how I know! __________________ "He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing." -Cicero

February 3, 2019	#30
imp Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: Wichita Falls, Texas Posts: 4,832	After the third year of the same plants, I was tired of the chard and chopped it down and dug it out to plant something else in the CG plot. It as still producing good and usable leaves, but just too much. Those were the Bright Light and Rhubarb Red varieties, some almost 4 ft. tall by the 3rd year. __________________ I'm not a complete idiot, some parts are missing.

February 2, 2019	#16
Patihum Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2013 Location: Southeast Kansas Posts: 878	Won't taste like dirt if you make pickles out of the stems! Really pretty in the jar when you use red/pink chard. Ingredients Swiss chard stems, chopped 1/2 inch square or so 1 cup distilled white vinegar 2 cups sugar 1/2 onion, thinly sliced 3 tablespoons Sriracha 1/2 teaspoon celery seeds Make a mixture of vinegar and sugar, then stir in onions, Sriracha, and celery seeds. Pour it all over the chopped stems, using 3 cups liquid for every 1 1/2 cups chopped stems. Throw it in the refrigerator for a few days, and you've got the ultimate refrigerator pickles.

February 2, 2019	#24
bower Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Newfoundland, Canada Posts: 6,794	Hey that pickle is a great idea! I had chard in the greenhouse one late winter, and it was really good, super tender, not too earthy at all even while it was bolting (six ft tall!!). That was "Bright Lights". But I've heard that they produce more bitter compounds in their second year. So the fresh young stalks are probably the best. We do grow organic and yes, it still tastes the same.