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Florida Gardening

Comparing Swiss Chards

happy_fl_gardener; 9a, near DeLand

15 years ago

I decided to try a few different Swiss chards this year to see how they would do. Ill-man gave me some Seafoam chard to try. I also started a variety called French chard. Another friend gave me a couple of dozen seedlings of what she calls Perpetual chard. I have some young seedlings of Charlotte chard and Perpetual Spinach (beet chard) waiting to be planted.

This picture is of Seafoam chard and French chard. The Seafoam chard has a lighter color and has crinkled leaves.

This picture is one of my rows of Perpetual chard.

The Perpetual chard looks nearly the same as the French chard in the garden, but when you look at the plant the differences can be seen. The French chard has very white ribs while the other one is very pale green. The French chard's leaf is a little thicker. Taste seems to be similar.

You will have to look closely to see the seedlings. The left tray has the Charlotte chard. It has a lot of red coloring, similar to beets. The other tray has Perpetual spinach/Beet spinach. It doesn't have any red coloring. I will have to post pics of those later when they grow up.

Also, my new Organic Gardening magazine came in the mail today. On page 64-69 it features an article called "The Power of Greens". It has some nice pictures, nutritional and food prep info about the top four greens: "kale is king", "colorful chard", "top of the turnips", and "super spinach". Interesting reading. Check it out.

Christine

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Comments (6)

ftlmom
15 years ago
I've been hearing a lot about swiss chards. I've never had them before but I just planted some in my garden called Fordhook. I can't wait to try these. I think I am going to look for more kinds to try this season. Thanks
pnbrown
15 years ago
The seafoam looks a lot like lucullus to me. Does it cook down very tender? Lucullus cooks like spinach.
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This post on chard got me hungry for it soooooo... I picked a bunch of Chard today and made rollups... Filling: 2 cups Chicken broth 1 cup rice Boil until waters is gone but don't cook completely. While rice is cooking: Fry 3/4 lbs ground beef 1 med onion cut up fine 2 cloves garlic chopped up fine add rice to meat when done... add 1/4 can of diced tomatoes. add 1/4 tsp Cheyenne pepper add 1 tablespoon basil take 12-15 large chard leaves, cut off the bottom of the stalk. place in a sieve and pour boiling water from kettle over chard to blanch it. take mixture off of heat and add table spoons of Parmesan Cheese. Lay a leave of Chard out and fill using tooth pics to hold together. Place in Pan... Take the rest of the dice tomatoes and put a frying pan with 1 cup of water, 2 tablespoons of sugar 1 tsp basil 1/4 Tsp of Cheyenne pepper 1 glove chopped garlic. bring to a boil for a couple of minutes and then pour over the chard rolls. Bake at 375 for 35 minutes. At 25 minutes sprinkle with parmesan cheese. MMMMMMM GOOD!
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I cooked up some of the largest ones this fall and found them to be so fibrous that I ended up throwing them out....and I'll cook and eat most anything. Mine were started indoors in early spring, were well watered and fertilized throughout the growing season, and grew into some gigantic specimens. Maybe a later planting that hadn't grown so long would have been better. Perhaps I could have put mine through a food mill and had an applesauce like consistency chard root sauce...but that didn't even appeal to my "use everything" thinking. But it is definitely worth experimenting from year to year to see what the variety and growing season have done to the roots.
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I like them and grow them both, as well as collards. I also eat the greens on the beets and turnips, but I don't care much for mustard or dandelion, they are too bitter for my tastes. Spinach bolts quickly here, so I've given up growing that. I invariably plant lettuce and it invariably sits in the garden and goes to seed, bolts or becomes bitter because I just don't care for the stuff. I want greens cooked, not raw, although if I HAVE to eat them uncooked, I'll use spinach leaves or lambsquarter. My grandmother used to douse cooked greens with vinegar and I detested them. Now I use butter/salt/pepper and love them. Sometimes I cook them for an hour, sometimes I just saute them, and I often toss a handful of slivered greens into soup. The kale and collards seem to hold up best to canning but chard is more quickly cooked and I've picked swiss chard right out of the snow. I've used whatever greens I have canned for spinach/artichoke dip and drained and added to omelettes, quiche and spanakopita and no one ever knows the difference. Annie
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I prefer green. But I couldn't give you a name. The stuff self sows on my allotment and has long since crossed and recrossed. Rainbow has disappeared except for an occasional ruby specimen. The yellow and orange have petered out altogether.
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gatormomx2
15 years ago
Very nice looking garden !
Congrats - all your hard work shows .
You inspire me to be a braver gardener and try new things .
Thank you !
an_ill-mannered_ache
15 years ago
your french swiss chard (weird) is doing really well in my garden--better, maybe, than the seafoam, tho i really love the look of the seafoam. in the spring, when the snails come out, i've found that the savoy texture (crinkle) discourages the snails. the seafoam, when cooked, is indistinguishable from other chards. it darkens.

ftlmom, chard is everything that spinach is, only it tastes good.

christine--this is our house staple for chard. it is just fabulous, and if you're good at pastry (as my wife is), you can throw it together in a matter of minutes.

Here is a link that might be useful: chard pie
whgille
15 years ago
Christine
Very nice looking Chard varieties, and they are all good for you.
I am growing your variety Charlotte, Bright Lights and other one I prefer, an Italian green variety with beautiful white, tender stalks.
Good tip on the magazine, I will look it up.
Willy
greentfinger
15 years ago
ftlmom: Fordhook is my favorite chard. Have grown it for years in more northern states. I planted some from Burpee Seed company last year and it did fine until some leaf liking critters destroyed most of it. It grows rapidly but prefers to be far out of direct sunlight in the FL. summers.

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