Fruit/Vegetable Anomalies #6 Swiss Chard

 

Photo 1: Swiss Chard 'Giant'

Continuing this occasional series about odd looking fruit and vegetables grown in the kitchen garden, today's feature vegetable is Swiss Chard. Previous posts have featured strawberries, carrots, potatoes, garlic and courgettes/zucchinis.

It is not unusual for my Swiss Chard to grow to 4 - 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 metres) but this specimen is over eight-foot tall (>2.4 metres). The leaves are still tender, edible and sweet but the stem is a little on the tough side. When Swiss Chard bolts like this, the leaves can become bitter.

My normal practice would be to take out the growing tip at 3 foot (0.9 metres) to encourage more growth from the base. Not quite sure how this excessive growth crept up on me, if it is, indeed, possible for a giant to creep up.

I've seen a few other reports of very tall Swiss Chard plants; e.g. here. I like to think it is the fertility and living complex organic structure of my soil that enables such supersonic growth. Apart from digging in my homemade garden compost and the very occasional watering when establishing the small plants, these vegetables are left to their own devices.

Chard has been grown in England since at least 1596 and is known by a number of alternative names: silver beet, beet spinach, seakale beet and leaf beat. Its origins can be traced back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 7th Century China, and 4th Century Greece. It is chock full of vitamins and minerals which explains its widespread use as a medicinal plant. Plenty of scientific papers have been written about Swiss Chard.

As noted above, Swiss Chard is an excellent addition to anyone's diet and is, fortunately, very easy to grow as an all-year-round vegetable. Chard is particularly rich in Vitamin A, β-carotene, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin K, Iron, Manganese, Magnesium and Potassium. It is also an excellent source of dietary fibre. There are lots of ways to add it to your diet; I add it all and any savoury dish including soup, curries, stews, pasta/tomato sauces, salads, cauliflower and macaroni cheese - or simply steam as a side vegetable.