What is chard, calorie content and chemical composition. Useful properties and possible harm when used. How to eat beets, what dishes can be cooked from them. Interesting facts about vegetable culture and the ability to grow on your site. Swiss chard contains a high amount of dietary fiber, which has a beneficial effect on the digestive system.
Useful properties of beetroot
It can be safely introduced into the diet for those who are losing weight - it has a low nutritional value. In addition, it increases the speed of peristalsis, helps to get rid of the accumulation of toxins and toxins.
Benefits of chard:
- Normalizes blood sugar levels, inhibits the activity of alpha-glucosidase enzymes that break down complex carbohydrates;
- Has an antioxidant effect, prevents the malignancy of existing neoplasms, prevents the formation of new tumors;
- Strengthens the structure of bone tissue and increases the strength of the walls of blood vessels;
- Improves thinking skills and enhances memory function, allows you to quickly assimilate new information;
- Normalizes the work of the cardiovascular system, prevents the development of atherosclerosis and ischemic disease;
- Increases the speed of blood flow, which helps to 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 to restore cells of the pancreas and liver.
But these are not all the beneficial properties of chard. Topical application of the leaves as an ingredient for masks helps to restore the quality of the skin, eliminate flaking and reduce pigmentation.
Contraindications and harm of chard
There are contraindications for regular introduction of the plant into the daily menu.
You should limit the use of beetroot:
- With gout, urolithiasis or gallstone disease. The chard contains a high amount of oxalates; when metabolic processes are disturbed, they crystallize and accumulate.
- With individual intolerance to all types of beets, so that allergic reactions do not appear.
- With varicose veins and thrombophlebitis due to the high amount of vitamin K in the composition, which increases blood clotting.
- With an increased level of cholesterol and obesity of 2-3 degrees.
Abuse of roman cabbage can provoke nausea, decreased blood pressure, dizziness, and drowsiness.
Do not drink fresh Swiss chard juice. It contains too much chemicals, volatile compounds and organic acids. It is possible to provoke the development of esophageal erosion, peptic ulcer disease, a 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 women in position, then the "acquaintance" should be postponed.
How are leafy beets eaten?
Before you eat Swiss chard, you need to learn how to choose it correctly. The leaves should be fresh, crisp, with a surface without dots and spots, whitish areas.
The plant is cut from the garden with a sharp knife and washed under running water. Slicing and cooking depends on the way it is consumed. Roman cabbage is often added to salads, it is cut into strips. Stem varieties are first blanched or boiled for 1-2 minutes, drain the first water and cook until tender.
Do not soak chard before making it. This significantly reduces the palatability. In addition, water leaches nutrients from the beetroot.
You can store greens in the refrigerator on the shelf for 5 days, wrapped tightly in cellophane to restrict air access. After storage, the salad will already be tasteless; it is advisable to use the product only boiled.
To preserve the product for a longer time, it is sliced and frozen. But again, it is not suitable for a salad after freezing.
Swiss chard recipes
There are many ways to cook Swiss chard. It is used as an ingredient for salads, in soups and hot dishes, leaves are fermented like white cabbage, and pickled like tomatoes or cucumbers. In the morning, you can please your loved ones with an omelette with a vegetable additive, and for dinner you can cook stuffed cabbage, where instead of cabbage you can use Roman salad leaves.
Swiss chard recipes:
- Spring salad … A mixture of lettuce leaves - chard, spinach, arugula - washed, laid out on paper towels to remove excess moisture. Cut the head of Mozzarella into even pieces - about 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.
- Swiss chard pie … Ingredients for the dough: 3 tablespoons of flour, it is better to mix in equal amounts to make a little more than a glass, 2 varieties, coarse and ordinary wheat, ice water - 3 tablespoons, butter, a little more than half a pack, 100 ml of 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. Put in the refrigerator to "rest" before baking. To prepare the filling, 0.5 kg of chard is blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes, and the excess liquid is allowed to drain. Chop 2 heads of red onions, fry in a pan in sunflower oil, add 3 cloves of chopped garlic, Swiss chard, white wine - a third of a glass, stew until tender, add salt and pepper. Roll out the dough, grease the pan with sunflower oil, put a layer there, press it tightly and often prick it with a fork. Bake for 10 minutes in the oven at 225 ° C. While the dough is baking, prepare the filling by whipping 3 eggs, 200 ml of cream, a pinch of nutmeg, a little red and black pepper. Better to use a blender. Stewed vegetables are laid out in the base for the pie, then - pieces of soft feta cheese (150 g), 80 g of crushed walnuts, and poured on top with a mixture of eggs and cream. The cake is baked in a preheated oven for half an hour. They take it out of the form when it has cooled down.
- Cannelloni … Prepare salsa sauce: mix chopped onions, a couple of crushed garlic cloves with a 0.5-liter can of tomatoes in their own juice. Knead the tomatoes thoroughly, 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. Pour salsa leaf envelopes and bake in the oven at 180 ° C, after sprinkling the dish with mozzarella cheese. Once the cheese is melted, you can turn it off.
- Vegetable casserole … Boil 4 eggs, peel. Finely chop all vegetables: carrots and kohlrabi 100 g each, celery - 1 root, 1-2 green onion feathers, 1 clove of garlic, 150 g chard. The vegetables are sautéed in a deep frying pan in vegetable oil for about 15 minutes. Fry about 2 tablespoons of flour separately with a small piece of butter, pour in a glass of milk, boil 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.
When preparing chard for the winter, it is better to marinate the petioles and leaves separately. The petioles are cut along the bottom of the leaf, washed with running water. Spread out on paper towels to dry a little. Then they are cut into small pieces so that you can compact them in a jar. Next, the jars are sterilized and the marinade is boiled: for 1 liter of water, 1 tablespoon of 9% vinegar, 1, 5 tablespoons of sugar and 2 salt. In sterilized jars, 1 liter, spread on an umbrella dill, 1-2 cloves of garlic, 3-4 black peppercorns and 2 allspice, 4 cherry leaves, 2 black currant leaves, a piece of horseradish leaf. If you want something unusual, add a little mustard powder to the jar. Petioles are laid out tightly on top of the spices, everything is poured with hot marinade and tightened with sterilized lids.
Leaf pickling differs only in the way the product is laid out in the jar. The leaves are rolled into rolls, 10-15 pieces each, carefully inserted into the container so that they do not wrinkle, and only then the marinade is poured. The leaves can later be used to dress soups or make stuffed cabbage rolls.
You should not add chard dishes to the menu more than 3 times a week. This can negatively affect your health.
Interesting facts about Swiss chard
Roman cabbage chard is called 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 purify the blood, and the Swiss alchemist and physician Paracelsus, with the help of preparations with chard, eliminated intoxication.
But in Russia, this garden culture appeared late - only in the XI century. It was then that the tale of "tops and roots" arose. Roots were used for beets, for chard, respectively, tops.
In 200 g of greens - 60% of the daily value of magnesium. But you can't eat so much chard, you can get gastritis and erosive damage to the mucous membrane.
Nowadays, Swiss chard is gaining popularity. It does not require special conditions for growing, the sprouts hatch at a temperature of + 4-5 ° C. The most favorable conditions are + 18-20 ° C and regular watering.
To grow Swiss chard, you need to know that this plant is capable of accumulating harmful compounds from the soil - nitrates and heavy metal salts. If you plant a vegetable crop in direct sunlight, less harmful substances will accumulate.
The plant can overwinter in the garden, but they prefer to grow it from seed annually, completely weeding out. In this case, the concentration of nitrogenous compounds in the cuttings decreases.
Chard should be fed and watered regularly, but if the humidity is too high, it starts to rot.
You should not sow roman 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 Swiss chard:
Having planted a new culture on your site, you can start looking for recipes for chard dishes. After all, it can even be included in exotic culinary masterpieces.