Can you freeze chard

Calories: 22 kcal. Author: Sarah Cook - Sustainable Cooks. Equipment Dutch oven. Cutting Board. Mixing bowl. Fine mesh strainer. Baking sheet. Parchment or Silpat. Loosely chop into ribbons. Fill a bowl halfway with ice water. Set aside. In a large saucepan bring water to a boil. Add chard and cook for 2 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, remove chard and add to the ice water.

Chill for 3 minutes. Transfer chilled chard to a strainer and allow it to drain. How to Freeze Swiss Chard Squeeze excess water out of the chard I squeeze portions in my hand over the strainer. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment, waxed paper, or a silpat.

Freeze for 3 hours. Transfer to freezer bags once chard has frozen solid. Notes Use unblanched frozen chard within 4 weeks. Nutrition Facts. Calories 22 Calories from Fat 2. You can do a rough chop, slice leaves into halves or quarters, or use the chiffonade technique to slice the chard into thin ribbons. For a chiffonade, just stack the greens on top of one another and roll them into a cigar shape, then slice thinly to make pretty, delicate narrow strips that will cook quickly and evenly.

The stems of chard are edible, so you can save them and prepare them, too. If you do plan to blanch your chard before freezing it, your next step will be to bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Use a genuinely large pot like a stockpot, not something medium large-ish like a saucepan, because blanching happens very quickly and relies on plenty of boiling water surrounding the vegetables.

When the two minutes are up, use a slotted spoon to remove the chard leaves from the boiling water and transfer them to the ice bath you got ready earlier. Leave the leaves to soak in the ice water for two more minutes, then use a salad spinner, colander, paper towels, or a dish towel to dry the greens before moving on. The stems of the chard need to stay in the boiling water and the ice water bath for three minutes each instead of two.

Remember to keep the stems and leaves separate when you remove them from the ice water to dry. Next, get ready to freeze your greens by separating them into portion-sized batches. You know best what will work for you and your routine.

Does it work just as well for Swiss chard, though? One of the messages we received from our readers regarding freezing various foods was about Swiss chard. Can you freeze Swiss chard? Should I cook it first or freeze it raw? Yes, you can freeze Swiss chard for later use. Rather than freezing it raw, it should be blanched first in order to preserve its nutritional value and to help preserve the color of the vegetable.