I must admit that I shamelessly love this plant.
Here at Rooting the Sun we are apparently about cultivating obsession (yes, obsession tastes very delicious).
What isn’t there to adore about punchy, healthy greens and visually captivating stems?
Swiss Chard, Swiss Chard, oh Swiss Chard!
Enter my most recent intuition: if you truly love something, candy it.
Candied Swiss Chard
Go boldly where your mind tells you to go and obey faithfully because somehow you ended up with that brain.
And for purposes none other than fun and love I candied the chard stems.
While this process wasn’t perfected to entirely preserve the beauty, the concept and the flavor remain in good taste.
The results: worthy, fascinating – sweet, satisfying. A texture your salad would ask for. A creation your insomnia doesn’t pardon.
- 1 lb swiss chard stems, cut about 1 inch long (about the amount harvested from a bunch of chard)
- 1½ cups of granulated cane sugar
- ¾ cup water
- Place chard stems in a small saucepan and cover with cold water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Once boiling strain the stems from the hot water, place back in pot, cover with cold water, and bring to boil once more.
- Drain and set aside.
- Add sugar and water to a medium pot and stir to combine.
- Bring mixture to a boil and simmer on low for ten minutes.
- Add blanched stems to the mixture and swirl pot to coat them, but resist from directly stirring.
- Simmer stems in sugar and water for 45 minutes.
- Towards the end the stems should be quite translucent, and most of the mixture should be thickened and reduced.
- Separate them from any remaining mixture and place on parchment paper to dry.
- Allow at least an hour, up to four to harden and dry.
Leave a Reply