Chard
From Freepedia
- For other uses, see Chard (disambiguation).
| Chard | ||||||||||||||||
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| Image:Swiss Chard.jpg Swiss Chard | ||||||||||||||||
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| Beta vulgaris var. cicla (L.) K.Koch |
Chard (Beta vulgaris var. cicla), also known as Swiss Chard, Silverbeet, Perpetual Spinach or Mangold, is a leaf vegetable, and is one of the cultivated descendents of the Sea Beet, Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima. It is in the plant family Amaranthaceae along with Spinach.
While used for its leaves, it is in the same species as the garden beets, which are used for their roots, including Mangelwurzel which is used for animal feed and the Sugar beet which is used to make sugar.
There are several cultivars of chard available for growing, but the most common is 'Swiss Chard'. Other varieties are 'Ruby Chard', 'Rainbow Chard', and 'Rhubarb Chard'.
Chard has shiny green ribbed leaves, with stems that range from white to yellow and red depending on the cultivar. It has a slightly bitter taste. The leaves are generally treated in the same way as spinach and the stems like asparagus. Fresh young chard can also be used raw in salads.
Cultivation
Chard is among the more cold-tolerant of garden plants, able to withstand frosts down to −4 °C. However, unlike many cold-tolerant plants, it also tolerates summer heat, and so in temperate climates chard can be one of the first leaf crops to reach maturity, endure all summer, and one of the last crops to remain productive into the autumn.
