In Season: Swiss Chard
Whether you're a CSA devotee, a farmers' market weekender or consider ketchup a veg, we'll teach you everything there is to know about local produce in our weekly series, In Season.
Today's harvest: Swiss Chard
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| Jennifer Woods |
Swiss chard needs a new name. It makes me think of swiss cheese, and it's definitely not cheese. It's not Swiss, either. And chard just doesn't sound like a good word. Strange name but probably my absolute favorite green of them all. It's so strikingly pretty, it has a super sweet crunch, has a lovely leafy texture and floats around your recipe box beautifully where something green is beckoned.
My dears, this is your gateway green. If you've ever wrinkled your nose at greens in general, this is the way to get into it.
Recipes to make you drool after the jump
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| CliffordAWright.org |
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| Jennifer Woods |
When is swiss chard in season?
Loosely, October through June
How do I eat it?
You could eat it raw (you've seen baby swiss chard with the red veins in your mesclun salad mixes) or it's more commonly cooked. You're going to absolutely adore these cooked chard recipes below.
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| Smitten Kitchen |
Run out and make these recipes:
Usually I try to share with you a variety of recipes from a variety of sources but I think the food blog Smitten Kitchen has knocked it out of the ballpark. All of Deb's swiss chard recipes look completely awesome. She's also writing a cookbook, due sometime in 2012. Pick any of these and be happy. This first one, though, is calling my name. Have you seen Portlandia's Put a Bird On It? Hilarious! This recipe makes me think "put an egg on it." I think I can add "top with egg" to my list of what to do with any vegetable and make it delicious, like I mentioned in my radish post. Truer words have never been spoken.
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| Smitten Kitchen |
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| Smitten Kitchen |
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| Smitten Kitchen |
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| Smitten Kitchen |
Jennifer Woods is a local food advocate with over 10 years working in the AZ food industry, and currently works for Crooked Sky Farms, a CSA produce farm based in South Phoenix.
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