Swiss Chard

ByMaria


I have been gathering Swiss Chard in my garden for months now and it seems endless. I love Swiss chard. You can use them in salads when young and saute’ or stir fry those big leaves. The one variety I have is called Bright Lights because of the different colors of the stem. The leaves stay green and shiny with specks of colors in the petioles and makes it a lively addition to the garden. It is widely used in Mediterranean cooking. They named it Swiss chard to distinguished it from the French spinach. It is also in the family of Amaranth which is very nutritious. It has Vitamins A, C and K and iron which makes the stems red or pink in color. Sometimes it is mistaken for Beets which the roots are the main product.

Similar Posts

  • Winged beans/Sigarillas

    ByMaria

    Winged beans or sigarilyas in the Philippines is also known as Goa beans, Mauritius beans, asparagus pea and many other names. I only know this beans as sigarilyas in my hometown. It is a tropical legume native to New Guinea. It grows as a vine 3-4 m. in height. It is a perennial but can…

  • Amaranth/Kulitis

    ByMaria

    Amaranth Kulitis
    Amaranthus is the botanical term for the genus amaranth, a short lived perennial plant that used to be only known as ornamentals and now being cultivated as leafy green vegetables comparable to kale in nutritional value.

  • Luffa Gourd/Patola

    ByMaria

    Patola is what we call the luffa gourd. There are two types of this gourd but I am only familiar with the one that has angles or ridges on the skin. This is the specie called Luffa Acutangula. The other specie must have been introduced in the Philippines at a later date. We call it…

  • Bittermelon/Ampalaya

    ByMaria

    The bittermelon plant in my garden really took off so fast because of the recent rains that we had. I actually had been gathering the fruits as well as the leaves which we use in soups like mung bean soup and chicken tinola which locals call Chicken Paraya. I have done a little research on…

  • Long Beans

    ByMaria

    I just started some long beans seeds (sitaw). Not all of them showed up yet but this is what it looks like when they emerge from the soil. It’s not quite ready for transplanting yet. I have to wait for what they call “true” leaves before moving them to the garden bed. I already set…

  • Cucumber/Poona Kheera

    ByMaria

    Cucumber or pipino as we call it in the Philippines is my favorite salad vegetable. I also make pickle out of it. But I really don’t have luck in growing cucumbers. Last month, a friend of mine gave me some seeds which he said came from Sri Lanka. I immediately planted it and see how…