Chard is basically a leafy beet plant without a root. It is related to beets, spinach and quinoa, not kale, it’s not a brassica.

Wash your chard, don’t soak it. It will loose nutrients if you soak it.

Almost all recipes call for you to cut off and discard the chard stems. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t. The stems are a little tough and crunchy so you might, or might not want that. It will depend on the dish. If there is a long cooking time for onions or something in the dish I will add the stems to cook with the onions, then add the quicker cooking leaves later. This is one of those kitchen decisions you will have to make as you go.

Sometimes recipes call for you to remove the rib of the chard.

To chop up chard I like to stack the leaves and roll them up like a cigar and chop them into ribbons. You can do this with or without the ribs.

Here is the bunch of chard all chopped up and ready to use, with or without the stems; you choose.

I’m going to make pan roasted garbanzo beans and chard with this bunch of chard.