Newly harvested chard of the variety Lucullus, ready for the freezer,

Chard grows really nicely in late summer, but I still have plenty left here in fall. It rains a bit more than before and the plants are thriving. Fresh chard tastes great, especially in your everyday dishes. Check out more content about chard here:

Chard and root vegetable gnocchi
Homemade leafy green scones
My delicious homemade food

I wanted to show you my favorite chard variety that I started growing for the first time last year, it's called Lucullus:

Parboiling chard

The best way to store chard until later is to freeze the leaves. I prefer parboiling them before freezing though, this improves the taste, texture, and durability.

Instructions:

• Harvest plenty of leaves, but make sure that you don't get more than you can chew.
• Remove the leaves from the middle stalk, rinse if you think it's necessary.
• Boil water in a large pot, add a little salt and put the leaves in the pot.
• Boil for around four minutes and pour into a strainer.
• Rinse in cold water until the leaves cool down.
• Squeeze the water from a handful of leaves and put them in a bag. You can weigh your bags if you want to, I think that nine ounces (around 250 grams) is a good size. The chard you buy in the store often comes in packages this size.
• Push the air out of the bag and flatten the contents. Close the bag and put it in the freezer.

This is what the parboiled chard looks like in the flat bags.

The flat packages thaw a lot easier than if you freeze it in a large clump. The leaves can thaw even sooner if you put the bag in a bowl of hot water. I really like to freeze chard in these packages, since it's so convenient to just grab one whenever I want.

More about chard: Flowering chard

The leaves stay fresh for a year, but we have usually already eaten them all in time for next year's harvests.

I hope you have plenty of lovely chard in your garden too, and that you try to freeze chard in flat packages too.
/Sara Bäckmo