Organic - Swiss Chard

Seeds:  150  / Botanical name:  Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris

Long-forgotten vegetable - Aromatic alternative to spinach

Broad, dark green leaves with white veins and large, pure white midribs. Abundant harvest throughout the season and even after the first light frost.

Natural habitat:  Chard was already cultivated by the ancient Greeks.

In the kitchen:  The stalks can be steamed in salted water and prepared like asparagus with butter or béchamel sauce. For chard spinach, remove the stalks and sauté the finely chopped leaves in a little oil with the lid on. The spinach becomes more robust if you sauté some diced onions until translucent and add them to the pan. You can also prepare a delicious vegetable dish using the whole chard. Since the stalks take longer to cook, they should first be finely chopped and sautéed with onions. The leaves are added later. Tomatoes, bell peppers, or mushrooms go very well with chard. In Yugoslavia, chard is mixed with plenty of garlic and mashed potatoes. To prepare this dish, sauté the finely chopped chard stalks in olive oil, top with a layer of thinly sliced ​​potatoes, and braise for 15 minutes. Then add finely chopped garlic cloves and the sliced ​​chard leaves, and continue cooking until the potatoes are tender. Large chard leaves can also be used to wrap small roulades. Blanched chard freezes well.