A Food Guide serving of raw Swiss chard is 1 cup mL. Swiss chard contains vitamin K which helps your body heal wounds and keeps your bones healthy too. It also contains vitamin A to keep our eyes, skin and immune system healthy. Buy it best Swiss chard has large green crinkly leaves with celery-like stalks.
Choose Swiss chard with crisp leaves and firm stalks. Look for different varieties of Swiss chard in the grocery store. Tips for storing Swiss chard Raw Swiss chard should be kept in a plastic bag in the fridge for up to 3 days. Rinse well in water just before using. Cooked Swiss chard will keep in an air tight container for up to 5 days in the fridge.
It is often sold in bunches. Look for firm, brightly colored stems, and leaves that are glossy and smooth, without any brown or yellow spots. You can use the entire leaf, the green leafy part and the stems. The stems take a little longer to cook than the leaves, but the whole thing is edible, and delicious, a little bit sweet in the stems which have a slightly celery-like flavor , and a little bit bitter in the leaves.
Young leaves can be eaten raw in salads. Chard appears frequently in Mediterranean cooking, as well as American, though it is used sometimes called by different names in cuisines ranging from Egyptian to Turkish. It can be bitter, especially Swiss chard. Cooking tends to diminish the bitterness so that its earthy, sweet, almost beetlike flavor is more pronounced.
Chard makes an appearance in a variety of dishes and is just as versatile as spinach. It's used in salads, stir-fries, soups, casseroles, and dumpling recipes.
When bunches of rainbow chard are available, they're easy to spot among the leafy greens in a produce market. Many grocers do carry some variety of chard, especially during the summer, which is chard's peak season.
A bunch will likely cost more than spinach or lettuce—it's typically grouped with specialty greens like kale. You may also have luck finding it at farmers markets, and chard is an easy vegetable to grow in gardens or containers.
You can plant it twice a year—in the spring and again in fall—and in some climates like the Pacific Northwest, it will live all year long. Choose chard with bright green leaves and colorful stalks, both of which should be firm. Pass on any bunches that include wilting leaves or those that are turning yellow. Brown stalks are another indication that the chard is not as fresh as it should be.
For the best storage results, separate the leaves and stems, storing the two separately for up to one week in the refrigerator. For the leaves, lay them out on paper towels, then roll them into a bundle before sealing in a plastic bag. The stems can also be wrapped in plastic. Left whole, chard can be refrigerated loosely wrapped in plastic for a couple of days.
You can wash chard before storing, just make sure it's completely dry first. Otherwise, rinse it before use. Though it is best fresh, chard can be frozen for up to one year. Separate the stems and leaves so you can use them individually if needed. Blanch stems for 2 minutes in boiling water and the leaves for 1 minute. Drain the chard well before packaging in separate freezer bags with as much air removed as possible. The stems can be preserved for a longer period of time. Fermenting chard stems in water allows you to store a jar in the refrigerator for three to six months.
It makes a nice salad topping. Chard can be compared to any leafy green. Taste-wise and in terms of cooking, it's most similar to spinach, but it's good to compare it to kale as well.
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