How Can I Prepare Chard?

You can basically prepare chard like spinach. Like its relative, it can be baked, steamed, roasted or eaten raw, for example in a tart. Before preparing the chard, you must wash the vegetables thoroughly. Clean the leaves and stems of grains of sand that may have settled between the stem and leaf or in the grooves of the leaves. Since otherwise unsightly brown spots will form on the cut edges, process everything promptly afterward. For example, you can prepare chard in the pan. You can also prepare Swiss chard to eat raw for nutrients. The leaves are suitable as wraps or for our chard smoothie. Chard can also be prepared as a salad. Since it contains oxalic acid, which is actually harmless, it is still advisable to heat or blanch the leaves if you want to use it in smoothies or salads, as this will reduce the amount. Too much oxalic acid can slow down the body’s absorption of iron and contribute to the formation of kidney stones.

Prepare Swiss chard: with a stem

When processing the leafy vegetables, which you get regionally grown, especially between June and August, note the differences between leaf and stem chard. For the latter, first, separate the leaves and stems from each other, as they have different cooking times. Stems take longer to cook through. So prepare them first. For example, you can cook them like asparagus. To do this, pull off the tough fibers on the outside before placing the stalks in a saucepan and cooking them in boiling water for eight minutes. Chard leaves, on the other hand, only need four to six minutes to cook. Just add them to the stems in the water a little later. For a spicy touch, you can also boil the leaves and stalks of chard in vegetable broth and let them steep for a few minutes.

Prepare leaf chard

Leaf chard can be cooked in boiling water like stem chard. At the same time, the leaves are wonderful for steaming or blanching. If you want the chard to keep its rich green color, it is best to opt for blanching. To do this, place the leaves in boiling water for a minute or two and then shock them with ice water. Steamed Swiss chard unfolds its nutty flavor particularly well. First gently fry the chopped onions and garlic in olive oil and butter in a pan. Then add the chard. After about five minutes of cooking time, the vegetables are ready to eat. In the case of Swiss chard, the stalks also need longer: you have to steam them for about ten minutes, the leaves only five.