Our trips to Flemington Markets often produce colourful surprises…
Last week we brought home a trio of small tomatoes: red grapes, yellow teardrops and chocolate tomatoes – the last being a new variety to me. The brown and yellow toms were deliciously sweet, making the red grapes taste a little tart by comparison.
Also at the markets was a vegetable known as rainbow or ruby chard. I’ve never seen it for sale before, so we were quite excited to find it at the organic growers on our last visit. We’ve been thinking about planting this, and were keen to taste it before we bought seeds.
Sadly, the excitement didn’t last very long. If you haven’t tried chard before, what you should know is that it tastes exactly like silverbeet (which is, in fact, what it is). None of my men will eat it, although it was quite tasty baked under a bechamel sauce.
Note to self: don’t plant rainbow chard!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I love, love, love chard…. I even planted some last year, with some success, which was unexpected…
Wonderful photos!
I’m sure your boys would eat swiss chard in this sweet tart from Provence – it is delicious.
http://www.bocuse.fr/recettes/ficherecette.asp?id=187
Anna
Love those tomatoes, Celia – very colourful.
We’re growing rainbow chard this year – our packet of seeds is producing red, white and yellow stems, which look very pretty. The thinned seedlings are being used raw in salads, and I’m using the larger leaves a bit like spinach – softening the chopped stems first in butter or oil, then adding the chopped leaves and letting them wilt in the heat. We think it’s OK and as we can’t grow cabbages in our soil, this is a useful alternative. I’ve used it as a quiche filling with courgettes and red onions too, as well as in a pasta sauce with some of the first veg from the garden. I think I’m using it before it grows as big as the stuff in your photo, though.
Just as well we don’t all like the same things!;-)
The tomatoes look wonderfully colourful – I do envy you your markets. WE are trying to grow tomatoes again this year, but as we don’t have a greenhouse, we generally don’t get much success in that department. We grow rainbow chard – it’s not my favourite vegetable, but it is easy to grow and does look wonderfully colourful. We use it as a spinach substitute.
Sally, that’s why we tried it – apparently it grows brilliantly. Not worth it though if we only end up with chook food.. :)
Anna, it would still be a hard sell. I can’t get them to eat Brussels sprouts too, but I love them so much that we’re going to try and grow them anyway.
Suelle, I think you might have hit the nail on the head – these were really too old and tough to be appealing. Unfortunately, we’re unlikely to get an opportunity to try them young. Surprisingly, for something that’s supposedly so easy to grow, I’ve never seen it for sale before – not sure why.
Choclette, I guess it’s swings and roundabouts – we don’t have much luck with plants that require a frost! The garlic is growing, but it’s tiny.. :)
The chard (bitter as it was – I guess) looks gorgeous, almost like rhubarb stems with dark green leaves! I’m sure the tomatoes are tasty.
And I wiped my eyes many a time during Toy Story 3, especially when Andy …spoiler deleted… . I love to find companionship in watery eyes!
I was grateful for the dark glasses, Oz. Edited your comment so it wouldn’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen the movie yet. Can’t talk my boys into going back to see it again, so am eagerly waiting for the dvd now.. :)
I love Chard!
But my men don’t like it either.
The tomatoes are a rainbow in themselves!
So pretty- and sweet?!
My husband likes beefsteak tomatoes- no cherry, no grape, no plum, no heritage.
The man is a boring eater, what can I say?
The tomatoes were very sweet! Beefsteaks have their place though! :)
I love chard of any type. I don’t have a green thumb at all, so anytime I can find different types of veggies at the store, I’ll snatch them up just to try them. I’m a more adventurous eater than what I grew up on – boiled potatoes and canned peas & carrots.
Now I have a craving for cherry tomatoes!!!
Not growing tomatoes this year, had blight two years running and in fact the only ones that didn’t get it were the sunshine yellow ones. I have grown giant marmande, one year by mistake, didn’t realise how big they were and had to support all the stems. Rainbow chard, looks pretty in the snow and was the only veg to overwinter this year despite the hard frost. Never see it in the shops here either, only the white swiss chard variety. Does your fancy tomato seller ever have the stripey ones? They are extremely cute.
BTW the chicken wrangler says entice the reluctant one with food, or pick it up, he reckons Pete has the right idea x
Are those chocolate tomatoes same as Kumatos (which I have bought in cherry size as well as full size)? Or yet another interesting variety?
Full marks for effort in trying to disguise the chard from your boys by smothering them in bechamel! We have grown them before too, with success. All I can tell you is that the home grown ones are tender, and taste very, very different to the shop bought ones. The home grown is more like a spinach (more delicate taste and softer leaves). Perhaps because we pick them younger and they are fresher?
I am sure if you found “chocolate chard” your boys would go for it…? :)
Love the tomatoes – they are such beautiful colours.
Chard seems to be popping up everywhere these days! Have you tried hiding it in lasagne?
We were a family who never ate silverbeet/chard before it was planted in the garden. Now that it’s here, I find it incredibly handy for putting into quiches, stirfries, curries etc. Plus it looks amazing in the garden with it’s beautiful colours (a rival for any flower), and it is a wonderful standby food for the chooks.
Love the yellow teardrop tomatoes..I think Digger’s seeds sell them as “Beam’s Yellow Pear”? I haven’t grown them before but would like to this summer! Gorgeous pics.
Only in Australia…you rock girlfriend!! x
hehe now calling any fruit a “chocolate” has got to be a very smart move no? :P Now I’m guessing the chocolate refers to the brown colour and not to the taste? ;) Or am I dreaming? :P
I knew if I posted about this I’d get lots of comments from all of you telling me that young chard was delicious! :) We still might grow it – I quite like the idea of eating it young like spinach. Hmmm…I’ll see if I can convince Pete… :)
SG, not sure if the tomatoes are kumatoes – they were sold as chocolate tomatoes (colour only, Lorraine!), but they are really very delicious. Quite thick-skinned but sweet. Oh, and Lorraine, I ended up making a panzanella salad with them – thank you for the inspiration!
Buttercup, you’re right, we’re so fortunate to have such easy access to so much gorgeous produce here in Australia!
Christine, thank you – I’ll check out Diggers and see what they have…
Mmm tomatoes. It’s tomato season here and I’m eager for the beautiful multicolored cherries. Last time I got some I cooked up some green beans, made a little dressing of shallot, olive oil and red wine vinegar and tossed the tomatoes with that. So delicious. I loved how sweet the non-red ones were. We had yellow and some that looked purple. I wonder how similar our purples were to your chocolates? Since of course I’m identifying mine by color rather than proper name!
Purple, Carrie! I’ve never seen any of those – I’ll have to watch out for them. Thanks..
We used to grow silverbeet instead of spinach as its easier to grow here and apparently a more robust plant – I now grow rainbow chard because its prettier and it tastes the same. I use it for all the same uses that I would use spinach for and when picked young it’s soft and tender (and actually not as strongly flavoured as spinach IMO). It’s one plant i always have growing because it’s a pain to have to use a great big bunch (how you buy it). I’m the same as Christine and use several leaves at a time in various dishes. Love the tomatoes – you’re getting yours very early compared to here in SA.
I have always had a good experience with swiss chard. I have never braised it but, have often used it in soups with positive results.
Your market tomatoes look stunning! I love it. There is nothing better than fresh tomatoes in the summer time.
Sarah, Velva, there were a few tomatoes at the markets last week, but I’m not sure they’ll be much this week. It’s an interesting time – I think we might be getting greenhouse toms from up north. Certainly too cold for them to be local!
Will have to try and get some young chard and give it a go!