[Sca-cooks] swiss chard =/= beet greens?
Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise
jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Mon May 16 08:28:30 PDT 2005
This is where it gets interesting (replying to my own post because I'm
more awake now:
>From the OED: "1658 EVELYN Fr. Gard. (1675) 160 To procure the chard of
artichoks. 1664 {emem} Kal. Hort. (1729) 195 Transplant the Beet-chard
which you sowed in August, to have most ample Chards. 1693 {emem} De la
Quint. Compl. Gard. II. 142 Chard-Beets..that in the middle have a large
white, and thick downy Cotton-like Main shoot, and that downy
Cotton-like shoot is the true Chard used in Pottages. 1832 Veg. Subst.
Food 252 The footstalks and midribs of the leaves [of white beet]..are
stewed and eaten under the name of Swiss chard."
>From the Britannica:
"Chard, also called Swiss Chard
(species Beta vulgaris variety cicla), an edible leaf beet, a variety of
the beet of the goosefoot family (Chenopodiaceae), in which the leaves
and leafstalks, instead of the roots, have become greatly developed. The
plant has somewhat branched and thickened, but not fleshy, roots and
large leaves borne on stalks. It is grown for the tender leaves and
leafstalks; the former are boiled and served like spinach, the latter
like asparagus. Swiss chard is popular as a home-garden potherb because
of its ease of culture, productiveness, and tolerance to moderately hot
weather."
Now, this is the part that is intriguing: the leaves of root beets might
well be different than the leaves of chard, so I feel better about
regarding them as interchangeable. But which is more like the
Beta vulgaris leaves used in period? Especially before the development
of the root beet?
> > Greetings! I had heard (and told others) that swiss chard was the modern
> > version of 'leaf beet'. Of course now I can't remember where I found
> > that info, and some friends of mine and I were wondering about it.
> > Anyone have a more concrete answer and be awake enough to produce it?
> > Thank you!
>
> Actually, I'd be very interested in what you find, since to my taste, Swiss
> Chard is not very similar to beet greens. And, interestingly enough. when
> you look through the seed catalogs, they advertise various strains of beets
> as being particularly good for greens, but I haven't noticed them saying
> that swiss chard was good as beet greens without beets.
>
> Saint Phlip,
> CoD
>
> "When in doubt, heat it up and hit it with a hammer."
> Blacksmith's credo.
>
> If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably not a
> cat.
>
> Never a horse that cain't be rode,
> And never a rider who cain't be throwed....
--
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
"All of us have special ones who have loved us into being. Would you
just take, along with me, ten seconds to think of the people who have
helped you become who you are. " -- Mr. Fred Rogers
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