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You are here: Home » Food Preparation » Recipes » Seasonal Recipe Round-Up » Chard: Seasonal Recipe Round-Up

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Chard: Seasonal Recipe Round-Up

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Welcome to our first Seasonal Recipe Round-Up! This time we’re featuring chard (and next time is spinach — see schedule below). I’m sharing my tips and a favorite recipe, and you can participate by sharing your own tips and/or recipes in the comments.

What is Chard?

Chard is a dark leafy green (like spinach, kale, beet greens, collard greens, mustard greens). You have probably heard of swiss chard or rainbow chard, and there are others. Rainbow chard is a variety of chard all growing together — and it is beautiful!

Chard is a spring green, though it can grow through the winter in mild climates, especially under a cold-frame roof. Our friends with whom we gardened last year have a few chard plants that grow perpetually under the cold frame so we ate it all spring, summer, fall, and winter.

The Good and the Bad

Chard, and the other dark leafy greens, contain abundant vitamins, minerals but also an anti-nutrient called oxalic acid. Oxalic acid binds with minerals in the digestive tract just as phytic acid does. To reduce oxalic acid, you should steam or ferment dark leafy greens. To ferment greens, see my online class in lacto-fermentation or my book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Fermenting Foods.

How to Steam Chard

Steam for just long enough to wilt the greens (about five minutes), but keep them brightly colored — this reduces oxalic acid yet preserves other nutrition. You can use a steamer basket, or you can put the chard right in a few inches of simmering water in a pot.

Once steamed, drain the chard and discard the cooking water because it contains oxalic acid plus other impurities (like pesticides or nitrites if the produce was conventional). Then toss with additional ingredients or add to soups or dishes. For an example of this technique, see my Feta and Chard recipe.

You might run into recipes that call for an addition of greens to be cooked right along with everything else. This keeps the oxalic acid in the dish. Instead, steam the greens separately and add them to the dish after draining.

What About Green Smoothies?

It is best to add raw greens like chard sparingly, rather than regularly. As an alternative, consider steaming the chard, then adding it to the smoothie after it is cooled. If you have an abundance of chard, steam it then freeze or dehydrate it to add to smoothies over time.

How to Store and Use Chard

Store unwashed leaves in plastic bags in your refrigerator (preferably a crisper drawer) for 2 to 3 days, or up to a week. To use, wash and dry leaves. Trim off ends and any bad spots. Then use in recipes.

My Recipe: Feta and Chard

In today’s Seasonal Recipe Round-Up, I’m sharing our favorite way to eat chard — Feta and Chard. Though the chard is delicious, too, what makes this so good is the butter, the salt, and the feta. 🙂

Click here to see my recipe for Feta and Chard.

Now, it is your turn to share!

How to Participate in the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up

Bloggers and non-bloggers, feel free to add a comment here with your favorite recipes or posts.

Please use real, whole ingredients in recipes, and preferably traditional methods of preparation. Whole ingredients means whole grains, vegetables, legumes, meats, and unrefined sweeteners. In order to keep the integrity of “nourishing” food, I will delete any recipes that use processed, boxed foods. Where possible, incorporate traditional methods of preparation, like soaking, sprouting and fermenting. The idea here is that your recipes and tips should help our readers find traditional methods for preparing seasonal vegetables.

Share Your Chard Recipes and Tips!

Seasonal Recipe Round-Up Schedule: April through June

  • Friday, April 27, 2012 — Chard
  • Friday, May 11, 2012 — Spinach
  • Friday, May 25, 2012 — Rhubarb
  • Friday, June 8, 2012 — Asparagus
  • Friday, June 22, 2012 — Strawberries

All seasonal recipe round-ups are (and will be) listed on the Recipes page.

Come back on Friday, May 11 for our spinach link-up in the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up.

 

We only recommend products and services we wholeheartedly endorse. This post may contain special links through which we earn a small commission if you make a purchase (though your price is the same).

Posted in: Food Preparation Seasonal Recipe Round-Up

About Wardee Harmon

Wardee lives in the Boise area of Idaho with her dear family. She's the lead teacher and founder of the Eat God's Way online cooking program as well as the author of Fermenting, Sourdough A to Z, and other traditional cooking books. Eat God's Way helps families get healthier and happier using cooking methods and ingredients from Bible Times like sourdough, culturing, and ancient grains.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. The Intentional Minimalist says

    April 27, 2012 at 6:21 am

    Thank you for hosting! This week I have shared two swiss chard seasonal farm-to-table recipes that promote the benefits of good health through nutrition from eating fresh unprocessed seasonal produce:

    wild leek & swiss chard pesto
    http://theintentionalminimalist.blogspot.com/2012/04/wild-leek-swiss-chard-pesto.html

    thai swiss chard noodle wraps
    http://theintentionalminimalist.blogspot.com/2012/04/thai-swiss-chard-noodle-wraps.html

    Happy cooking!
    The Intentional Minimalist

    Reply
  2. KatySheCooks says

    April 27, 2012 at 7:27 am

    I’m so glad I had a lightbulb moment this past summer, and started steaming, pureeing, and freezing cubes of chard and kale for my smoothies. I had long been enjoying the greens raw in my smoothies (I’m a smoothie girl in summer, juicing girl in winter), but then became even more convinced I should be limiting my intake of raw cruciferous veggies.

    And then I remembered — I used to do this as baby food! (Not sure I’d *still* do it as baby food, that’s another story ; ) So I’d bulk-steam a bunch, puree, and freeze in ice cube trays. I’d put a cube or two in my smoothies each morning — I knew I was getting my cooked greens, and it added an icy-cold temperature to boot.

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      April 27, 2012 at 7:37 am

      That’s great, Katy! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

      Reply
      • Diana says

        April 27, 2012 at 8:00 am

        Katy – That’s a great idea! I’m going to use your tip and freeze my greens in cubes.

        Reply
    • Melissa says

      May 6, 2012 at 7:13 am

      Genius!!!! Thanks for the idea. I’m going to adopt this one!! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Diana Bauman via Facebook says

    April 27, 2012 at 7:38 am

    Can we link up past posts?

    Reply
  4. Gabrielle Skoglund Mauerman via Facebook says

    April 27, 2012 at 7:38 am

    My go-to recipe is the one from Simplyrecipes (http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/swiss_chard/) of course I’d change to oil to coconut, but even my kids enjoy it!

    Reply
  5. GNOWFGLINS via Facebook says

    April 27, 2012 at 7:41 am

    Diana — Yes! New or old, and as many as you want. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Amanda Rose says

    April 27, 2012 at 7:59 am

    Well, I posted a link to a more general post on leafy greens and chose my meatloaf roll photo (a recipe I’d completely forgotten about) and so then I linked up the actual meatloaf roll, leaving a wart on your new link up with the same photo for two links. Sorry. *duck*

    It’s a great meatloaf. 🙂

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      April 27, 2012 at 8:26 am

      That’s so okay! I’m just glad you found a gem in your archives!

      Reply
  7. Diana says

    April 27, 2012 at 8:01 am

    I love this seasonal round up Wardee! I’m excited to check out others posts. Being a veggie girl at heart… I’m so excited about this 😀 I linked up a Spanish rice and swiss chard dish. Hope you like it. Have a great weekend!!

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      April 27, 2012 at 8:34 am

      Thank you!

      Reply
  8. Katie says

    April 27, 2012 at 9:31 am

    Good morning! I’m sharing our parsnip fries with lambs quarter pesto recipe. The chard is found in the pesto. This is a wonderful link-up idea! Thanks for hosting!
    http://www.riddlelove.com/2012/04/parsnip-fries-with-lambs-quarter-pesto.html

    Reply
  9. Emily says

    April 27, 2012 at 9:56 am

    Hi and thanks for hosting the Seasonal Recipe Round-Up – what a great idea! 🙂

    I’m sharing my recipe, Green Soup for Cleansing– the perfect antidote to a celebratory weekend or a string of over-indulgent choices. Fresh chard is a terrific choice for the “dark leafy greens” ingredient this time of year.

    Have a great weekend!

    Reply
  10. Holly says

    April 27, 2012 at 10:05 am

    WOW–this is like a treasure chest of ideas for chard!

    Thank you to everyone who has linked up a recipe. I can hardly wait to start trying these tempting dishes when we pick up our next CSA basket tomorrow!

    Reply
    • Holly says

      April 27, 2012 at 2:34 pm

      Also, thanks to you, Wardee, for the excellent overview of chard and for that wonderful recipe.

      DH was not too sure about signing up for our CSA. Seeing how flavorful the farm-fresh broccoli, lettuces and Chinese cabbage were, he warmed up to the idea, though he remained wary of the unfamiliar vegetables that would be coming our way.

      Your chard and feta recipe was what won him over; he loved it! I was thrilled that, with only a few ingredients and a simple technique, I could serve him something so delicious AND nutritious. Now he looks forward to pick-up day as much as I do!

      Thank you also for providing a home for this round-up. I can’t wait to see how it grows!

      Reply
      • Wardee says

        April 29, 2012 at 6:14 am

        I’m so happy to hear how much your husband loves the chard and the CSA now! When we belonged to a CSA, pick-up day was thrilling for us, too!

        Reply
  11. dewdle says

    April 27, 2012 at 11:01 am

    I love cooked spinach, but can’t stand mustard or turnip greens, and can only tolerate collard greens if they’re cooked with bacon, onions, hot peppers, and a bit of vinegar. So when I read that chard was mild-flavored, I thought yay, I’ll probably like it then.

    But unless it was something about my gardening technique, I didn’t like chard at all! It didn’t have hardly any taste at all, IMO.

    But, then I thought how about I mix it with the stronger greens that I don’t like (that are considerably cheaper than spinach where I shop), and found that when I mixed low-flavored chard with collards, it was quite nice.

    IMO, chard is easier to grow than the other greens I’ve tried, so I’ll use it to tone down more affordable collards without having to heavily flavor them (DH doesn’t like the onion, hot pepper, vinegar style).

    Reply
  12. Tas' says

    April 27, 2012 at 6:37 pm

    I make pumpkin and chard soup: onion, pumpkin, chard, chicken stock, coconut cream, tamarind (or lemon juice) and salt and pepper.

    Reply
  13. Debbie says

    April 27, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    I linked up my Rosemary Lamb Stew which receives a splash of color from green chard. Looking forward to the spinach week!

    Reply
  14. Dani says

    April 28, 2012 at 8:03 am

    I love to use chard in stir-fry type dishes, but does this method of cooking retain too much oxalic acid? I’m afraid if I steam or blanch the chard first I’ll end up with mush…

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      April 28, 2012 at 7:40 pm

      Dani — If you only eat it occasionally, it is fine, in my opinion.

      Reply
  15. Erin D. says

    April 28, 2012 at 8:24 am

    Seasonal eating is such a wonderful link-up idea – Thanks Wardee! This will be a huge help throughout the year. 🙂

    Reply
  16. Hannah says

    April 28, 2012 at 11:34 am

    The steam-and-freezing-greens for smoothies idea is great! I have tried using fresh greens sparingly in smoothies before, but wondered if they would be more healthful lightly cooked. With the abundance in my garden now, this would be perfect.

    Reply
  17. Rachel says

    April 28, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    This was a great post, if only because it highlighted the fact that one, I have never eaten chard, two, I had no idea what it really is (I do now!), and three, we can’t buy it in stores here! Today I discovered that a remote little garden center out of town carries the seeds, but I am reluctant to buy it until I know that my family will eat it, as space in the vegetable garden is limited.

    Reply
  18. Marg says

    April 29, 2012 at 1:32 pm

    I find it interesting to know what “chard” is. Growing up, all I ever knew was Swiss Chard. The rainbow kind was just the same thing, brightly coloured. The others we call by name; kale, spinach and beet *tops*. Until the internet, I never heard of collard or mustard greens.

    Now that I know all these wonderful vegetables, I look forward to trying these recipes!

    Reply
  19. Emelie Rose LeCroy via Facebook says

    May 2, 2012 at 5:25 am

    I often use swiss chard to switch things up a bit as the base green leafy vegetable in my green smoothies every morning. Lacinato kale also makes a terrific base green when preparing green smoothies. =)

    Reply
  20. Nichole says

    May 4, 2012 at 6:41 am

    Wow, all of these recipes makes me want to grow some! I’ve never tried chard, but I think I’m going to grow some next year!

    Reply
  21. Deanna Caswell says

    May 4, 2012 at 8:51 am

    Put this up on our favorite links. LOVE a good chard recipe.

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      May 5, 2012 at 7:07 am

      Deanna — Thank you!

      Reply
  22. Holly & The Dog says

    May 5, 2012 at 6:44 am

    LOL, I started to take Katy’s idea above (to steam, puree and then freeze the chard an ice cube tray for smoothies), but it wasn’t til I finished pureeing that I realized I had no ice cube trays!

    So I figured I could freeze it up in jam jars and have it ready to go for a cream soup when soup weather returns. But before doing that, I tried a spoonful with a dollop of butter–oh was it good!

    So now it looks like some of those jars are destined to be 2 Ingredient Creamed Chard, ha!

    Reply
  23. Kristina says

    May 5, 2012 at 4:04 pm

    I can’t seem to be able to open the weston a. price website on this page, where you have oxalates highlighted. Please send me an email of the sight.

    Thankyou

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      May 6, 2012 at 6:15 am

      Strange! Here’s the link:
      http://www.westonaprice.org/vitamins-and-minerals/mineral-primer

      Reply
  24. Madeleine says

    May 16, 2012 at 2:00 pm

    Hi, I love these seasonal link ups. What a great idea. I love silverbeet here is my favourite recipe.

    http://www.nzecochick.com/2011/11/silverbeet-and-cottage-cheese-lasagna.html

    Reply
  25. KC says

    February 1, 2013 at 11:58 am

    You mention fermenting to get around the oxalic acid, so that is reduced with fermenting or are you steaming first? I have hashimotos so don’t want to ferment any cruciferous veggies since I’ve heard goitrens are increased with fermenting and just wanted to double check on how this all works. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Wardee says

      February 1, 2013 at 2:53 pm

      KC — You either steam OR ferment, you don’t need to do both. I hope this helps. 🙂

      Reply

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