Requited Love
If there is such a thing as
unrequited love, is there requited love? I love Swiss chard and it loves me
back. I've written before on this blog about my love for all things
"greens" including mustard greens, kale, turnip greens, bok choy,
tatsoi, Napa and others. But my main go to green, for both taste and beauty, is
Swiss chard.
One of the reasons why I like Swiss
chard so much, is that I have abysmal luck growing spinach. Spinach needs a lot
more water early on to get going, and I've never had the plants really leaf out
well. To me, Swiss Chard is a great spinach substitute, though if you want
creamed spinach, you need to cut out the midrib. My favorite way to eat Swiss
Chard is sauteed with garlic and onions, and olive oil, and maybe a splash of
balsamic vinegar. Simple and delicious. It also makes a great quiche, using a
spinach quiche recipe and substituting chard.
Though I will post this later, I'm
writing it in mid-July and the chard harvest (except for steamed then frozen)
is a thing of the past until fall. We had great big beautiful stands of it. For
two people, you don't need to plant many seeds to get a lot of chard, like 10
seeds?
The photo above is of my favorite
variety, rainbow chard. The stems come in shades of red, pink, yellow, orange,
white, peach. Very beautiful, pretty easy to grow, and versatile. Plant in early spring, follow the package
directions, water once a day until it sprouts, and replant in September.
