Swiss Chard

[ina]

Pffffffffft, that was a load.


Washed, cut, blanched and packed, ready for the freezer.

[ina]

[Mimi]

Who's been a busy girl then :D  Do you blanche the whole leaf Ina, or do you blanche stem and leaf seperately????

[GardnerJ]

hi Ina
do you inly grow the white stemmed? have you ever tried the red or yellow?
Lovely pics as always, thanks!
Jemma x

[tim]

Ina - do you hack all the tops off & let it re-grow? Starting from this:


And Jemma - the Rainbow??

 = Tim

[ina]

Now I only grow the white stemmed type, it's called luculus because I find the ribs don't tend to go woody. I used to grow the darker types too but now I stick to these.

Normally I harvest much sooner than I did this time and just pluck the large and medium leaves, leaving the tiny ones to grow big. So I don't hack the top off Tim (good sharp pitcure btw).

The leaves get washed and inspected (ohhhhhhh how I hate those earwigs, only four in this large amount tho'), then I just stack a bunch of them up and cut strips about 2-3 cm wide, ribs and all. What I don't use right away I blanch for 1-2 minutes in boiling water, then in cold water and drained, packed and frozen.

I hope I answered all questions here.

[tim]

So you don't pick the leaf to its base? Doesn't this invite stem rot?
Surprised you find the coloureds tougher - I find that I can pickthem most always, and always use the stems - which keep a bit of their colour -  whereas, with 'Swiss Chard', I am having to use a knife, & find the stems a bit daunting. Unless very fast grown with lots of RAIN.  Where IS the stuff? Of course, it so much depends on variety.  Some of our SC stems are 3" wide.  
I'm not trying to teach my granny - just throwing chaff to the wind!! To coin a phrase. = Tim

[ina]

Stem rot? Never had it, just lucky I guess. Like you said, I think it all depends on the variety whether the stems get tough or not. What I like about the light green stuff is that I can see dirt and bugs more easely when washing, I'm serious.

[tim]

Bugs are just protein?? = Tim

[Mrs Ava]

Inspired by your pics Ina, today I got myself up to the plot and picked a carrier bag full of the white stemmed swiss chard and the coloured stemmed bright lights.  Removed the stems, cut them into wedges, blanched, refreshed, dried and froze them on a tray so I could pack them 'loose'.  Leaves I roughly chopped, blanched for 1 minuted, refreshed, squeezed out excess liquid, 'fluffed up', and loosely put into bags and froze.  Still have masses up there, I only removed all the larger outer undamaged leaves.  They do make real statuesque plants.

[tim]

What a girl!!

btw - anyone with a pressure cooker - I find that quickly up to 5lb & then rapid cool does a very good job - without sogging them in water. = Tim

PS Later - for cooking, not blanching!!

[ina]

No pressure cooker here.

I may try the seperate stems thing someday EJ, makes for a change.