Today we will look at the simplest and most ancient method of home preparation...
Chard is a leaf beet that began to be cultivated in Ancient Egypt and Greece, however, in those days this plant was considered sea swede. It is interesting that they began to eat beet roots much later, and in the 21st century in Russia they began to grow separate leaf and tuberous varieties of beets. Chard, also known as romaine or beet chard, comes in two varieties—stem chard (which looks like beet leaves with veins and stems that are red, yellow, or green) and chard, which resembles spinach.
Chard: beneficial properties of the plant
This unpretentious garden culture is becoming increasingly popular not only because it is easy to grow, but also because of its medicinal properties.
Green leaves are extremely rich in vitamins (especially carotene), sugars, proteins and mineral salts. An increased concentration of vitamin K helps cleanse the blood and ensure its normal clotting. High content Calcium in green leaves helps strengthen teeth and bones, and the presence of iron prevents anemia. The chard plant contains fiber and syringic acid, which normalize blood sugar levels, so chard is recommended for diabetics, and its unique anti-cancer properties are a consequence of the increased level of antioxidants. In addition, chard leaves enhance brain activity, are effective for normalizing vision, and are good for the heart and blood vessels.
How to cook chard?
It is most often used as a healthy ingredient in food recipes. fresh salads And vegetable stew. A popular recipe for chard salad includes finely chopped leaves, tomatoes, bell pepper, feta cheese or mozzarella, onions and herbs, seasoned with vegetable oil. When cooked, chard, unlike spinach, does not lose volume, and it tastes much sweeter and more pleasant.
Young petioles of the plant are prepared like asparagus - first boiled, then fried in eggs and breadcrumbs, baked in bechamel or cream sauce, added to soups and broths. Swiss chard is used in the preparation of cabbage rolls, dolma and beetroot, it is prepared as cauliflower, used in pies, omelettes and desserts.
Chard soup is easy to prepare - you need to separate the petioles from the leaves, finely chop the petioles, cook them in the broth until tender, and only after that you can add potatoes and other vegetables to the soup. Green leaves cut into long strips are usually added 10 minutes before the end of cooking, after which the dish should be allowed to brew for half an hour.
Chard: storing healthy vitamins for the winter
You can salt it with cabbage or prepare it for the winter as a separate dish. Typically, pickling and canning are used for these purposes, and the difference between these two processes lies in the composition of the brine and marinade, which results in completely different dishes. Pickled chard is independent snack, and preserved leaves are used to prepare various dishes.
For pickling, you can take vinegar, sugar, salt, dill, garlic, blackcurrant, raspberry and cherry leaves, mustard powder and black peppercorns. Whole chard is suitable for canning, from which you can make savory cabbage rolls in winter. Some housewives freeze and dry leaves and petioles, prepare salads and dressings for soups, preserve juices, and add chard to caviar and lecho.
Chard beet recipes can be very exotic - for example, you probably haven't tried cottage cheese casserole or baked goods with chard. However, regular recipes will delight you with their taste, bright view and ease of preparation, since chard is piquant, healthy and unusual!
Some people are not even aware of the beneficial properties of many plants. Sometimes, under the unsightly appearance of a bush, truly amazing healing abilities are hidden, but often decorative leaves are distinguished by such remarkable characteristics, and chard is just that.
Many may not even realize that chard is a beet, but not a root one, like the traditional one, but a leaf one. The Mediterranean is considered to be the birthplace of the plant. Today this kind of beetroot is grown in many countries of Western and Central Europe, in the USA, in countries Latin America, Japan, India.
Compound
Swiss chard is a plant that is amazing in its composition. Chard contains a lot of vitamins, including K, C, E, A, as well as B vitamins, a large number of macroelements, including potassium, sodium, magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, and microelements, including copper, iron, selenium, zinc. Moreover, what is mentioned is not the entire list of useful substances that make up chard.
Properties of chard
Despite the fact that Aristotle mentioned the beneficial properties of chard in his works, and this, let me remind you, was in the 4th century BC, at present many people grow leaf beets exclusively as ornamental plant, not realizing that it is a panacea for many diseases.
Chard helps strengthen bones and teeth. Chard is a source of the mineral calcium, which has a beneficial effect on the condition of bones and teeth; by the way, magnesium and vitamin K, present in large quantities in chard, contribute to the health of bones and teeth.
Chard is an excellent prevention of anemia due to the fact that its variegated leaves contain a large amount of iron. In addition, the plant promotes the formation of new blood cells, protects health of cardio-vascular system, and also thanks to vitamin K, which, as you already know, is part of Swiss chard, ensures normal blood clotting, prevents internal bleeding and bruising.
Chard normalizes blood sugar levels. This property of Swiss chard is due to the fact that the leaves contain fiber and syringic acid.
Chard has anti-cancer properties. So valuable properties due to the high content of antioxidants and fiber.
Chard gives hair health and beauty. As you know, hair follicles feed on sebum, and the vitamins contained in chard, in particular A and C, activate its production.
Chard is also good for the brain. Vitamins B and K help activate brain activity, so if your work involves mental stress, be sure to include chard in your diet.
Chard is effective for vision problems. The eyes need lutein and zeaxanthin, these substances are found in Swiss chard.
In addition to the indicated Chard is good for the heart and blood vessels, due to the fact that it contains 13 different polyphenols, including kaempferol. The plant also has cleansing and anti-inflammatory properties.
Chard: contraindications
Due to the beneficial properties indicated above, chard should be included in your diet. However, do not overuse chard, as it contains some oxalates, which, due to crystallization, can cause kidney and gall bladder problems.
Chard: application
As you have already seen for yourself, there is no doubt about the effectiveness of chard. Beetroot is used in folk medicine(for example, boiled leaves are applied to abscesses and burns. With the help of a compress from crushed leaves, they get rid of inflammation of the eyes. Freshly squeezed chard juice helps with toothache, it is also used to remove warts and remove freckles. Gruel from chard root is an excellent remedy against baldness) . However wide application I also found chard in cooking, so it is used as a tasty and healthy ingredient for vegetable salads.
I would like to introduce you to one vegetable plant with an interesting and unusual name - chard. Planting and care open ground so simple that the hassle of growing will be minimal. An interesting story happened to me with chard beets. I once sowed beet seeds. I bought two varieties, made two furrows and sowed one variety in one, and the second in the other. I threw away the seed packets, not even bothering to remember their names. Both varieties sprouted almost simultaneously.
The time has come, I thinned out my beets. I watered and loosened the rows. Everything is as usual. And then I noticed that the tops on one row were more luxuriant, the leaves were large with thick red petioles. The leaf grows “stupidly”, it has grown almost above the knee, but the root does not even think of becoming round. On the second, the leaves are much smaller, and root crops have begun to form. Shrugging my shoulders, I decided that the seeds were to blame, I had no luck with them. At first I wanted to pull out the unsuccessful beets - my granddaughter interfered, she liked the juicy ones beautiful leaves. How she guessed that they were edible, I don’t know. But when she came to the dacha, the first thing she did was run to this garden bed, pick off a whole bouquet of leaves and eat them with pleasure.
This is such a funny story...
Chard in a garden with salads Only the next year, while looking through information on the Internet, I learned that there is a special variety of beet - Swiss chard. It became interesting. I have already bought specially the chard seeds. And having received an incomparable harvest, I realized that I would never part with it again amazing plant- chard. How many delicious dishes you can cook with it! I'll tell you about this too, but a little later.
Chard, what is it?
Chard is a fairly vigorous plant that can grow to a height of 60-70 cm. This depends on the variety. Chard is a close relative of ordinary beets, but it does not form a root crop, but is valued precisely for its above-ground part - a lush rosette of large vesicular leaves rising above the surface of the ground on tall thick petioles.
Chard has several names - chard, leaf chard, petiole chard. It is grown to produce tasty and unusually healthy leaves.
Not only the leaves are eaten, but also the juicy, fleshy stems, which, with proper care, reach a diameter of 7-8 mm. The petioles, like the leaves, are incredibly rich in vitamins, minerals, trace elements and various valuable compounds. If you introduce regular consumption of this vegetable plant into your diet, you can best boost your immunity and improve your health.
Of the varieties that I planted on my plot, high yield I especially liked the mid-season chard variety Bride, which allows the first cutting of greenery to be done 55-65 days after germination. The plant reaches a height of 50-60 cm, has large wavy dark green leaves and very thick petioles. white, which are particularly juicy and piquant in taste.
Variety Bride The Krasavitsa variety is no less tasty, ripening in the same time frame. This variety of chard also allows for several cuttings per season and is characterized by high yield. In addition, it is also unusually decorative: a lush rosette of green leaves with red veins reaches a height of 60-70 cm and looks very elegant in the garden, thanks to its thick, bright crimson petioles. And he can decorate any flower garden!
Chard - care and cultivation
Chard is easy to care for, and even a novice gardener can grow this crop. Its seeds begin to germinate already at a temperature of +6-7°C, so I sow them in a bed filled with organic matter and mineral fertilizers in the earliest possible time in the spring.
Young chard seedlings are cold-resistant and can withstand spring frosts down to minus 2°C without loss. To obtain an earlier harvest, this plant can be sown before winter, and to obtain delicate autumn greenery, it can be sown in August (in Kuban). Only in hot summer conditions is it better to sow it to get a second harvest in partial shade and not let the soil dry out.
Chard is grown mainly as annual plant, but it can be left before winter - in the second year of life it forms a tall peduncle with inflorescences, from which, after flowering, seeds can be collected and used for future plantings.
How to plant chard
I sow the seeds in grooves spilled with water and sprinkle them with a 3-4 cm layer of soil. When sowing with dry seeds, seedlings appear in the garden bed in 10-12 days. When 2-3 true leaves appear on the seedlings, I thin them out, leaving 35-40 cm between the shoots. Soon the plants become stronger and actively begin to grow.
The main condition for receiving good harvest Tender juicy petioles and leaves are ensured by timely watering of chard.
I also carry out 2-3 feedings per season: the first 7-10 days after germination, using nitrogen fertilizers; for the second and third feedings, which I do at intervals of 17-20 days, I use complex fertilizers. But I advise you to reduce the dose of fertilizer for each feeding by half than indicated in the instructions in order to avoid the accumulation of nitrates in the “tops” of leaf beets.
I also regularly loosen the chard rows and pull out weeds. During the cultivation of this crop, I have not yet found any signs of disease on it. But among the pests, my main enemies for chard are snails. I'm saved only by the thunderstorm. I periodically sprinkle blue Groza granules (a remedy for slugs and snails) along the perimeter of the bed. The granules retain their properties even after 3-4 rains. Then, of course, you need to update, re-sprinkle the bed, protecting it from snails, but there’s nothing you can do about it...
Features of harvesting chard
I begin to harvest the crop as it ripens, cutting off the petioles with leaves located along the edges of the rosette and without touching its middle. In one cutting, I remove no more than a quarter of the entire green mass, so as not to greatly harm the plant. With this approach, chard is restored very quickly and short time grows new greenery.
Chard harvest Chard, recipes
Cooks from many countries around the world use chard to prepare main hot dishes and salads. Both leaves and young stems are used. The taste of fresh herbs with a slight sourness, and sometimes even bitterness, gives dishes a special piquant and unique taste.
Salad preparation Swiss chard contains a large amount of vitamins and various minerals, nutrients and acids. And you can eat the leaves either fresh in salads or as a filling for all kinds of pies. You can use them to make soups, borscht, or make cabbage rolls from the leaves. Well, of course, you can freeze them. But I wouldn’t recommend canning the leaves – it turns out kind of a mess. The petioles are a completely different matter.
Chard petioles What does chard taste like? Fresh leaves have a slight, almost imperceptible sourness, and in soup they are more similar to spinach, but tastier than spinach. The taste is somewhat similar to spinach and beets at the same time - tender and sourish-sweet. How is it different from beet tops? If the tops are young, then practically nothing. But you won’t be able to pluck all of the beets; the root crop will have nothing to eat. And you can endlessly tear off the leaves of chard, leaving the middle. They will grow and grow.
Stuffed cabbage rolls with chard leaves
Swiss chard cabbage rolls By the way, cabbage rolls made from chard leaves are something extraordinary. I tried it once - now I only make these: delicate, wavy, silky leaves, juicy petioles. Detailed recipe I won’t write about it, since the filling is no different from the usual one. If you want, do it meat filling, if you want vegetable - whoever likes it. If cooks recommend boiling cabbage leaves for cabbage rolls a little in salted water, cutting off or beating off the hard veins so that they become softer and do not break when wrapping minced meat in them, then with Swiss chard everything is very simple. The leaves are like silk, rolling inward on their own! Stuffed cabbage rolls with chard leaves, believe me, it’s very, very tasty!
Braised chard cabbage rolls Pies with beetroot chard
Open-faced chard pie Cut the leaves into wide strips and the petioles into medium-sized cubes. Lightly fry until translucent onion, add chopped chard, simmer a little, add salt. You can add your favorite spices. Cool, add a few chopped boiled eggs, mix. This is what we have made of minced meat.
I usually make the pie from store-bought puff pastry.
I spread the minced meat on one sheet of puff pastry and cover it with another sheet of pastry. I pinch the edges, slightly turning them up, and pierce top sheet with a fork in several places and place in a preheated oven. After 20-25 minutes I take out the browned pie.
Closed pie with chard Feel free to get creative with the chard pie filling. It won't taste bad! In the photo below, the puff pastry pie inside is gripped with any hard cheese (can be Dutch, can be Parmesan), the filling does not crumble at all, you can safely serve it on a plate. Chard is tender, tender, and in combination with cheese and egg it is something unimaginable!
Pie with cheese, egg and chard Potatoes with chard
Boiled potatoes with chard I read this recipe on one of the forums on the Internet. I tried it, liked it, and am sharing it with you. You can eat it as a separate dish, or you can serve it as a side dish for fried or salted fish.
I boil the potatoes until almost done, wash a large bunch of chard leaves (they boil down a lot during the cooking process), cut them with scissors into the pan with the potatoes and cook until the potatoes are ready.
While everything is cooking, I quickly prepare the sauce: pour equal parts of odorless olive and sunflower oil into one bowl, add 2-3 large cloves of finely chopped garlic or put through a garlic press, mix everything.
There are people who don't like the taste and smell olive oil. It can be replaced with melted butter.
Drain the water from the potatoes and, while they are hot, add oil and garlic. Fragrant, tasty, healthy!
Garnish of chard for meat and fish dishes
Wonderful, wonderful chard side dish! Light, impeccably tasty and incredibly healthy.
Cut the chard into 1.5 cm strips and blanch in salted water for 2 minutes. Squeeze.
Heat any vegetable oil you like in a frying pan, throw in 5 chopped garlic cloves, fry until golden color. Place the blanched and squeezed chard, add salt, and add a generous pinch of aromatic market hop-suneli. Simmer covered for 10 minutes. Ready!
Garnish for stewed chard meat Salad of chard leaves, green onions with sour cream
The composition of the salad is indicated in the title.
Fresh green salad with sour cream He who knows, understands!
Scrambled eggs with chard
Scrambled eggs with chard Favorite food for breakfast. It takes 5 minutes longer to prepare (the leaves need to be cut) than usual, but it’s tastier and healthier.
I add chard to borscht.
You can add it to okroshka (just cut it smaller).
And it will never be superfluous in salads! I advise anyone who loves greens to try it.
In general, chard is a great thing. It is unpretentious, grows quite quickly, and is useful, of course. Beautiful. There are different types - with white stems, with yellow stems, with red stems.
Looks great in the garden! You can plant them in flower beds!
I advise you to definitely plant this amazing crop on your site in the new season. Chard will not only help diversify your usual diet and improve your health, but will also become the main decoration both in the garden and in the flower garden.
Chard is a biennial herbaceous plant, a type of common beet, containing many useful substances. This culture has been known for more than three thousand years.
IN Ancient Rome dishes prepared were highly valued from Swiss chard. It is called “Roman cabbage”, since the Romans did not have a single meal without dishes from this plant. In addition to being very healthy, chard is also a beautiful plant.
Its bright decorative foliage will decorate any flower bed. Depending on the variety, this vegetable has yellow, green, red and silver leaves. Since it is not particularly difficult to grow, many gardeners love chard. Wikipedia describes the variety of varieties of leaf beets. The most popular:
- red chard - “Beauty”, “Ruby”, “Scarlet”;
- green chard - “Emerald”, “Green”, “Belavinka”.
Unlike beets, chard does not form roots. The main advantage of the plant is the leaves and petioles, which contain useful material, which the vegetable is so rich in.
Exists two types of plants:
- sheet;
- petiole.
The leafy one has a lush, well-developed rosette, located on thin petioles. They are used to make cabbage rolls and salads.
The petiole differs from the leaf one in that it has thick, wide petioles, used like asparagus. They are prepared just like the leaves: boiled, steamed, fried, and used for making side dishes. The root of both types is rod-shaped.
Starting in early spring beneficial features Swiss chard is widely used to enrich the body with vitamins. The leaves of this plant are low in calories, but very useful product, it is often compared to spinach. Swiss chard leaves contain about thirteen antioxidants. The main component is syringic acid, which can control blood sugar levels. In addition, chard is a source of phytonutrients or betalains, which are excellent for removing toxins from the body. The vegetable contains many vitamins, iron, phosphorus and carotene. Eating chard improves the functioning of the digestive tract, helps normalize blood pressure.
100 grams of boiled chard contains:
- 38% vitamin A;
- 300% vitamin K;
- 22% of vitamin C daily intake. Only spinach exceeds these indicators, which is why chard is considered one of the healthiest vegetables.
Chard: benefits and harm
Eating chard will help you avoid many diseases. This vegetable will help for:
- normalization of blood sugar levels;
- improving brain activity;
- normalization of the heart muscle;
- improving blood circulation;
- strengthening and accelerating hair growth;
- useful for bones and spine, for vision, and for anemia.
However, despite everything its beneficial properties, you should not overuse the vegetable; you must observe moderation in everything.
Beetroot is contraindicated for:
- tendency to be allergic to this product;
- the use of vitamin complexes, since it contains a lot of vitamin K and an overdose is possible;
- the presence of varicose veins and a tendency to form blood clots;
- diseases of the kidneys, gall bladder.
Sowing
You don't need any special agronomic knowledge to grow Swiss chard. Varieties of this plant are divided into green-petioled, red-petioled, yellow-petioled and silver-petioled depending on the color of the petiole. Having decided on the variety, the seeds are pre-soaked for 2-3 days. damp cloth. For sowing, use spacious containers, since it is better to plant seedlings in open ground when the soil is well warmed up. However, you can sow directly into the garden bed on May 8-12, with more early stages crops must be covered with film. But it should be remembered that due to low air temperatures, early crops may bloom.
For planting chard It is better to select a bright area with non-acidic soil. Vegetables need natural nutrition, so they add them to the soil. organic fertilizers and charcoal to enrich it with potassium and reduce acidity. The seeds are planted in the soil to a depth of 2-3 centimeters at a distance of 5 centimeters from each other. Seedlings must be thinned to ensure good ventilation and nutrition. To obtain juicy, large rosettes, the distance between plants should be at least 10 centimeters.
Chard is a moisture-loving plant and demanding of nutrition, so once every 10 days it needs to be fertilized with green fertilizers (infusions of herbs), a solution of mullein or chicken manure (0.5 liters per 10 liters of water).
Caring for the plant consists of loosening the soil, controlling weeds, and watering as needed. Although the vegetable tolerates heat quite easily, it still optimal temperature cultivation - 25 °C. Don't plant it next to spinach; the best neighbors are carrots, onions, lettuce and cabbage.
First harvest can be obtained as early as 30 days after planting. The leaves in the rosette will grow thicker the more you cut them. Usually large leaves are collected, and after 7-8 days small leaves grow, making up the next harvest. At one time, you can cut off approximately 25% of the leaves from the bush, located on the outside at a height of three centimeters, along with the petioles, without leaving columns, as they rot. Care should be taken not to damage the rosette or cut off the growing point of the plant.
Chard is not afraid of frost, so you can leave it in the ground, but it is better to dig up the roots, put it in a box, cover it with sand and send it to the basement. Or you can dig up a plant with a clod of earth, plant in a spacious pot to grow on a windowsill in winter period. Since chard is a biennial plant, it develops flowers and seeds in its second year.
Chard varieties are widely used for food, as they are very healthy. How to cook chard, each housewife decides for herself according to with gastronomic preferences. It can be added to salads, canned, boiled, fried. When cooking a plant, after boiling, the water must be drained, since it contains a lot of nitrates, then new water is poured in and cooked until tender. Swiss chard goes great with other vegetables, meats and cheese.
What is chard, calorie content and chemical composition. Useful properties and possible harm when consumed. How to eat chard, what dishes can be prepared from it. Interesting Facts about vegetable crop and the opportunity to grow on your own plot.
The content of the article:
Chard (chard) is a crop that can be classified more as a green than a vegetable. Latin name two years old herbaceous plant- Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris. Family Amaranthaceae, subspecies of common beet. There are two forms of chard - stem (veined) and chives or chive, the second name is Roman cabbage. The stem is consumed together with the stems; it is more fragrant. In Roman cabbage, only the leaves are eaten, the growth of which resumes after cutting. The plant looks like a regular beet. The leaves of chard are large, wavy, the basal ones are smaller, the central ones are larger, with different colors- from green to reddish. The flowers are small and light. But the root-root vegetable is unexpressed, elongated. The fruits are seed-pods and are not eaten. Planted together with other vegetables, it grows in open ground in temperate and continental climates. It is not yet popular in the CIS.
Composition and calorie content of chard
In terms of nutritional value, beets and chard differ significantly. Leaf plant You can safely include it in the most strict diet for weight loss.
Calorie content of chard is 19 kcal per 100 g, of which:
- Proteins - 1.8 g;
- Fats - 0.2 g;
- Carbohydrates - 3.74 g;
- Dietary fiber - 1.6 g;
- Ash - 1.6 g;
- Water - 92.66 g.
- Vitamin A, RE - 306 mcg;
- Alpha Carotene - 45 mcg;
- Beta Carotene - 3.647 mg;
- Lutein + Zeaxanthin - 11 mg;
- Vitamin B1, thiamine - 0.04 mg;
- Vitamin B2, riboflavin - 0.09 mg;
- Vitamin B4, choline - 18 mg;
- Vitamin B5, pantothenic acid - 0.172 mg;
- Vitamin B6, pyridoxine - 0.099 mg;
- Vitamin B9, folate - 14 mcg;
- Vitamin C, ascorbic acid - 30 mg;
- Vitamin E, alpha tocopherol - 1.89 mg;
- Vitamin K, phylloquinone - 830 mcg;
- Vitamin PP - 0.4 mg;
- Betaine - 0.3 mg.
- Potassium, K - 379 mg;
- Calcium, Ca - 51 mg;
- Magnesium, Mg - 81 mg;
- Sodium, Na - 213 mg;
- Phosphorus, P - 46 mg.
- Iron, Fe - 1.8 mg;
- Manganese, Mn - 0.366 mg;
- Copper, Cu - 179 μg;
- Selenium, Se - 0.9 μg;
- Zinc, Zn - 0.36 mg.
Essential amino acids per 100 g:
- Arginine - 0.117 g;
- Valine - 0.11 g;
- Histidine - 0.036 g;
- Isoleucine - 0.147 g;
- Leucine - 0.13 g;
- Lysine - 0.099 g;
- Methionine - 0.019 g;
- Threonine - 0.083 g;
- Tryptophan - 0.017 g;
- Phenylalanine - 0.11 g.
- Omega-3 - 0.007 g;
- Omega-6 - 0.063 g.
Polyunsaturated fatty acids per 100 g:
- Linoleic acid - 0.063 g;
- Linolenic - 0.007 g.
- Choline prevents the deposition of stones in gallbladder, prevents fatty liver.
- Vitamin C is involved in redox processes, stimulates hematopoietic function, prevents malignancy of tumors, significantly increases blood clotting and can destroy tooth enamel.
- Phosphorus is the main component of protein metabolism, participates in enzymatic processes, and transfers energy throughout the body.
- Potassium normalizes the functioning of the cardiovascular system and prevents the formation of edema.
- Magnesium is responsible for the functions of muscle fibers and thermoregulation, but accumulates in the joints, stimulating the formation of stones.
- Sodium supports the body's vital functions, constricts blood vessels, prevents dehydration, but can cause edema and increases blood pressure.
- Calcium is essential building material for organic tissues, but its excess negatively affects the condition of the kidneys.
Beneficial properties of Swiss chard
It can be safely introduced into the diet of those losing weight - it has a low the nutritional value. In addition, it increases the speed of peristalsis and helps get rid of the accumulation of waste and toxins.
Benefits of chard:
- Normalizes blood sugar levels, suppresses the activity of alpha-glucosidase enzymes, which break down complex carbohydrates;
- It has an antioxidant effect, prevents the malignancy of existing tumors, and prevents the formation of new tumors;
- Strengthens the structure of bone tissue and increases the strength of the walls of blood vessels;
- Improves thinking abilities and increases memory function, allows you to quickly assimilate new information;
- Normalizes the functioning of the cardiovascular system, prevents the development of atherosclerosis and coronary disease;
- Increases the speed of blood flow, which helps saturate all tissues, organs and systems with oxygen and nutrients, prevents the development of anemia;
- Improves vision function, reduces the likelihood of glaucoma and cataracts, increases twilight vision;
- Strengthens hair roots and stimulates growth;
- Eliminates swelling, helps the body get rid of toxins;
- Helps restore pancreatic and liver cells.
Contraindications and harm of chard
There are contraindications for regularly introducing the plant into the daily menu.
You should limit your consumption of chard:
- For gout, urolithiasis or cholelithiasis. Chard contains a high amount of oxalates; when metabolic processes are disrupted, they crystallize and accumulate.
- In case of individual intolerance to all types of beets, so that allergic reactions do not occur.
- For varicose veins and thrombophlebitis due to the high amount of vitamin K in the composition, which increases blood clotting.
- At elevated level cholesterol and obesity 2-3 degrees.
You can't drink Fresh Juice chard. It's too concentrated chemical substances, volatile compounds and organic acids. You can provoke the development of esophageal erosion, peptic ulcer, violation of the acid-base balance in the oral cavity, bronchospasm.
Vegetable dishes are introduced into the diet of children and pregnant women with caution. If this product is new for pregnant women, then “acquaintance” should be postponed.
How to eat Swiss chard
Before you eat chard, you need to learn how to choose it correctly. The leaves should be fresh, crisp, with a surface free of dots, spots, and whitish areas.
The plant is cut from the garden bed with a sharp knife and washed under running water. Cutting and cooking depends on the method of consumption. Roman cabbage is often added to salads and cut into strips. Stem varieties are first blanched or boiled for 1-2 minutes, the first water is drained and cooked until tender.
The chard is not soaked before cooking. This significantly reduces taste qualities. In addition, water leaches beneficial substances from chard.
You can store the greens in the refrigerator on a shelf for 5 days, tightly wrapped in cellophane to limit air entry. After storage, the salad will no longer be tasty; it is advisable to use the product only in boiled form.
Chard recipes
There are many ways to prepare chard. It is used as an ingredient for salads, added to soups and hot dishes, the leaves are fermented like white cabbage, and pickled like tomatoes or cucumbers. In the morning, you can please your loved ones with an omelet with vegetables, and for dinner, prepare cabbage rolls, using romaine lettuce instead of cabbage.
Chard Recipes:
- Spring salad. A mixture of lettuce leaves - chard, spinach, arugula - is washed and laid out on paper towels to remove excess moisture. Cut a head of Mozzarella into even pieces - approximately 100-120 g, wash several strawberries and cut into 2 parts. All ingredients are mixed, the salad is seasoned with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.
- Chard Pie. Ingredients for the dough: 3 tablespoons of flour, it is better to mix in equal quantities to make a little more than a glass, 2 grades, coarse and regular wheat, ice water- 3 tablespoons, butter, a little more than half a pack, 100 ml Parmesan. For taste, it is advisable to add 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped sage to the dough. The dough is kneaded until completely smooth and wrapped in cellophane. Place in the refrigerator to “rest” before baking. To prepare the filling, blanch 0.5 kg of chard in boiling water for 2 minutes and allow excess liquid to drain. Chop 2 heads of red onion, fry in a frying pan in sunflower oil, add 3 cloves of chopped garlic, chard, white wine - a third of a glass, simmer until tender, adding salt and pepper. Roll out the dough and grease the pan sunflower oil, place a layer there, press tightly and prick often with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven at 225°C. While the dough is baking, prepare the filling by beating 3 eggs, 200 ml of cream, a pinch of nutmeg, a little red and black pepper. It's better to use a blender. Place in the base for the pie vegetable stew, then - pieces of soft feta cheese (150 g), 80 g crushed walnut, and pour a mixture of eggs and cream on top. The pie is baked in a preheated oven for half an hour. Remove from the mold when it has cooled down.
- Cannelloni. Prepare salsa sauce: mix chopped onions, a couple of crushed cloves of garlic with a 0.5-liter jar of tomatoes in their own juice. Mash the tomatoes thoroughly and beat everything in a blender. Chard cuttings are blanched, cut into smaller pieces, mixed with 200 g of cottage cheese (it is better to take ricotta). Wrap the curd filling in blanched Roman cabbage leaves. Fill the leaf envelopes with salsa and bake in the oven at 180°C, after sprinkling the dish with mozzarella cheese. Once the cheese has melted, you can turn it off.
- Vegetable casserole. Boil 4 eggs, peel. Finely chop all the vegetables: 100 g of carrots and kohlrabi, 1 root of celery, 1-2 green onions, 1 clove of garlic, 150 g of chard. Vegetables are sautéed in a deep frying pan vegetable oil approximately 15 minutes. About 2 tablespoons of flour are separately fried with a small piece of butter, a glass of milk is poured in, boiled for 5-7 minutes, pepper and salt. Pour the sauce into the mold, lay out the eggs and vegetables, mix everything, sprinkle with a layer of grated cheese and nutmeg powder. Bake in an oven preheated to 220°C.
Pickling leaves differs only in the way the product is laid out in the jar. The leaves are rolled into rolls of 10-15 pieces, carefully inserted into a container so as not to wrinkle, and only then the marinade is poured. The leaves can later be used to season soups or make cabbage rolls.
You should not include chard dishes on the menu more than 3 times a week. This may have a negative impact on your health.
Chard is called Roman cabbage because in Ancient Rome it was eaten everywhere by patricians and plebeians. At that time, the vegetable was called sea rutabaga.
The ancient Greek healer Hippocrates used the plant in the treatment of fever, dermatological and infectious diseases, to cleanse the blood, and the Swiss alchemist and physician Paracelsus, using preparations with chard, eliminated intoxication.
But in Rus' this garden crop appeared late - only in the 11th century. It was then that the fairy tale about “tops and roots” arose. For beets, the roots were used, for chard, respectively, the tops.
In 200 g of greens - 60% daily norm magnesium But you can’t eat so much chard, you can get gastritis and erosive damage to the mucous membrane.
Chard is currently gaining popularity. It does not require special conditions for growing; the sprouts hatch at a temperature of +4-5°C. Most favorable conditions- +18-20°C and regular watering.
To grow chard, you need to know that this plant is capable of accumulating harmful compounds from the soil - nitrates and salts heavy metals. If you plant vegetables under straight lines sun rays, harmful substances less will accumulate.
The plant can overwinter in the garden, but they prefer to grow it from seeds annually, completely weeding it out. In this case, the concentration of nitrogen compounds in the cuttings decreases.
Chard should be fed and watered regularly, but if too high humidity it begins to rot.
You should not sow romaine cabbage in the garden after white cabbage, spinach and regular beets. This will negatively affect the beneficial properties of the plant.
Watch a video about chard:
Having planted a new crop on your site, you can start looking for recipes for chard dishes. After all, it can even be included in exotic culinary masterpieces.
