Chard

Chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris, Cicla-Group and Flavescens-Group) is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. In the Flavescens-Group-cultivars, the leaf stalks are large and are often prepared separately from the leaf blade.The leaf blade can be green or reddish in color; the leaf stalks also vary in color, usually white, yellow, or red. Chard has highly nutritious leaves making it a popular addition to healthful diets (like other green leafy vegetables). Chard has been around for centuries, but because of its similarity to other beets and some other vegetables such as cardoon, the common names used by cooks over the centuries can be quite confusing.

The word "chard" descends from the fourteenth-century French carde, from Latin carduus meaning artichoke thistle (or cardoon, including the artichoke).

The origin of the adjective "Swiss" is unclear, since the Mediterranean plant is not native to Switzerland, nor particularly commonly cultivated there. Some attribute the name to it having been first described by a Swiss botanist, either Gaspard Bauhin  or Karl Heinrich Emil Koch (although the latter was German, not Swiss).

Chard is a biennial. Clusters of chard seeds are usually sown, in the Northern Hemisphere, between June and October, depending on the desired harvesting period. Chard can be harvested while the leaves are young and tender, or after maturity when they are larger and have slightly tougher stems. Harvesting is a continuous process, as most species of chard produce three or more crops. Raw chard is extremely perishable.

Fresh young chard can be used raw in salads. Mature chard leaves and stalks are typically cooked (like in pizzoccheri) or sauteed; their bitterness fades with cooking, leaving a refined flavor which is more delicate than that of cooked spinach.

In Egyptian cuisine, chard is commonly cooked with taro root and coriander in a light broth.In Turkish cuisine, chard is cooked as soup, sarma or börek.

In a 100 gram serving, raw Swiss chard provides 19 calories and has rich content (> 19% of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamins A, K, and C, with 122%, 1038%, and 50%, respectively, of the DV. Also having significant content in raw chard are vitamin E and the dietary minerals, magnesium, manganese, iron and potassium.Carbohydrates, protein, fat and dietary fiber have low content.

When chard is cooked by boiling, vitamin and mineral contents are reduced compared to raw chard, but still supply significant proportions of the DV (table).
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