Sweet Swiss Chard and rain6-11-11

Dear Veggie Lovers,

The cold slows the growth of summer crops and last week I had to fight other farmers and suppliers to get the required amount of cucumbers. In the coming weeks there may be a shortage of cucumbers mainly (but also many of the other summer crops - zucchini, eggplant, basil ...) until the new agricultural areas will begin to bear fruit. Prices of cucumbers may rise but on the other hand the prices of winter crops, leafy and roots, will drop due to acceleration of green growth, and also their variety will improve.

You can always get information about different vegetables in previous emails through the tags on the left page "weekly updates from the garden"
The fall went on and on and all of the sudden Boom! The winter is here! It became cold, rainy and wintery. I hope it stays this way and that this year is blessed with lots of sweet rain from our skies. There is nothing more joyful than turning off the garden's irrigation system!
This week, directly after the kale, we will praise the chard, the modest beet leaves that are often taken for granted.
The chard is the most resistant leaf in our garden. It is sown or planted first, in the beginning of the end of the summer, because it is resistant to warm weather in comparison to other green leaves. It precedes all other greens with it's presence and is therefore around for a longer season. The chard is a biannual which means it completes a cycle in two years. If you ever grow chard, you can maintain it up to two years until it grows a flower column and tries to seed itself. Of course it will have difficult times during the summers but aggressive pruning will usually encourage it to grow new wide beautiful leaves.
Americans call it Swiss chard but we knew of it earlier and therefore have naming rights. The mother of this family is the Silka (Silek in Arabic) that grows wild here, and in general throughout the Mediterranean area.

The Silka produces only leaves, and has been known for thousands of years. It is one of the oldest species of edible leaves known to mankind. Our ancestors grew the plant in their vegetable gardens and it was an important component in their vegetable dishes. Sometimes it was called "Tardin" (and it is indeed a relative of spinach - tered), and in the Talmud it is mentioned as a remedy to colds: "חמה לחמה וסילקא לצינה" . The Rambam recommends "Tardin water" as an excellent aid for the intestinal functions and Aristotle himself writes about red beet leaves.
Beets were introduced to Italy around the 16th century and from there they reached the New World. When the Silka arrived in Europe it was specifically bred to develop the ball root beet and a beet for producing sugar. Swiss chard, ball root beets and sugar beets all belong to the same species (beta vulgaris).
Beets have edible leaves, healthy and fresh and many years ago farmers probably preferred the leaves to the root. But both were cultivated. Some kept the seeds of crops which produced large broad leaves, and some kept the seeds from those which generated large roots. So we now can enjoy the beet root and large broad beet leaves. By the way, if you try to taste the root of chard you'll feel the sweetness of beets. When we distribute beets with leaves, during the winter, you really really should use also the leaves.
Like other wild leaves, the original Silka was abandoned in favor of newly developed species, which can be found in different colors:

However, in modern days, even gourmet restaurants are returning to the simple "wealth" of the basic "mother species". Although one might have learned to be a chef in Paris, in his trendy gourmet restaurant he will serve leaves collected from the countryside. (Like maybe someone's mother taught them ...) Even during the siege of Jerusalem, silka leaves, rich in vitamin C and vitamin A, iron and calcium, magnesium, vitamin K, rescued the besieged from malnutrition.
In Israeli and Arab folk medicine, beet leaves are used primarily to treat diseases of the digestive tract - constipation, stomach bleeding, and intestinal softening. It is also useful for those who suffer from anemia and liver diseases because one of its main characteristics is an abundance of iron. Natural cosmetics use the water in which the leaves were cooked to make a rinse for peeling skin and to prevent hair loss and dandruff.
The importance of the beet in the Gemara is addressed (77, 72): אמר ר' חנינא: מפני מה אין בעלי ראתן בבבל? מפני שאוכלין תרדין, ושותין שכר של היזמי. אמר רבי יוחנן: מפני מה אין מצורעין בבבל? מפני שאוכלין תרדין, ושותין שכר, ורוחצין במי פרת".
It is very easy to consume the chard. You can use it in all the recipes for spinach or almost every other leaf. It is excellent fresh, steamed, stir-fried, in casseroles, sauces, omelets, as leaves to be stuffed, in lasagna....
there are endless possibilities. There are also recipes in the "recipes" section.

To Health!

May the rain continue and hydrate the soil thoroughly and well, seep through and fill our aquifers.
Yours,
Maggie

Our expectation list for this week follows. You may read about any of the listed vegetables by clicking its name on the list on the left side of the web page. If there are any changes (nature being nature), you may find out about them via this link on the day of delivery.With all of the new beginnings and endings, lets hope for only good changes - in the boxes also.
Regular boxes:

Cucumbers- a little less for the next few weeks

Tomatoes

Lettuce

Eggplant

Cilantro or Dill

Kholrabi

Cabbage

Roqette

Peppers

Butternut Squash

Large ones also:

Red Mustard

Dill or Cilantro

Swiss Chard

Parsley

Fruit Baskets:

Avocado

Bananas

Grapefruits