gratin de blettes

There's Swiss cheese, Swiss chocolate, Swiss Army knives. But what's so "Swiss" about chard? It's a mystery. That's not the only curious aspect of chard. Why does chard, especially the ruby-red variety, taste a lot like beets? And, most importantly, are Swiss CSA-members as inundated with Swiss chard at this time of year as their Vermont CSA counterparts? Renowned produce expert Elizabeth Schneider is even mystified by the "Swiss" in chard. In her Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide (William Morrow, 1990) she speculates that "Swiss" could be a long-forgotten seed variety name that stuck to chard, aka Beta vulgaris, subspecies cicla. Which leads us to the next conclusion: ...