Chard (Swiss Chard, Rainbow Chard)

Chard is beautiful regardless of color. It has dark green, sometimes ruffled leaves, and edible stems may be brightly colored crimson red, orange, fuchsia, yellow, or stark white.

Preparing chard: Rinse well and tear or chop the leaves. Some recipes direct you to strip the leaves from the thick stems, chop them separately, and give them a head start in the cooking process.

Cooking chard: steaming, braising, sautéing. Regardless of method, it often makes sense to cook thick stems longer than leaves; start them a minute or two earlier.

When is it done? When the leaves are wilted and the stems tender

Substitutes: chard and beet greens are almost always interchangeable; dandelion greens, turnip greens, spinach