Sea Beet Stem / Wild Chard

Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima · Vegetable

40 pairings

Sea beet (Beta vulgaris subsp. maritima), also called wild chard, wild spinach beet or sea spinach, is a wild coastal green that grows on shingle beaches, sea walls and salt-marsh edges around the Atlantic and Mediterranean. It is the untamed ancestor of cultivated chard, beetroot and sugar beet, and the parts eaten are the glossy, dark-green leaves and their thick, ridged, faintly reddish stems. Raw, the young leaves are tender and mineral with a salty tang from the shore; cooked, they wilt like a firmer, more savoury spinach, while the stems soften to a juicy, chard-like crunch. A forager's green rather than a market vegetable, it is gathered along coastlines in spring and early summer and treated simply — wilted in butter or oil, blanched and dressed, or added to soups and tarts wherever spinach or chard would go.

Picking a good onedrag

Stiff and glossy, stems snap wetYellow, limp, slimy at the cut

Kitchen freshWash hard, coastal grit hides in the ribs. Wilt the leaves fast in butter or oil, slice the tender stems and give them longer, drop any stem that is woody rather than juicy, and salt last: it brings its own.Everyday best

LeafGreen and whole, the gloss gone matte

StemSnaps with a bend in it, still green inside

The liftStand, then fold over slowly

Smell at the cutGreen and neutral, almost nothing

What to look for, from stiff and glossy, stems snap wet to yellow, limp, slimy at the cut.

Preparing