Today was my first day back at the office after twelve days of vacation. It was 8 F / -13 C degrees outside and it had snowed overnight when I opened my eyes this morning. It took every shred of will power I possess to get dressed and head out into that weather. Calling in sick seemed like such a nice option.
I made a Swiss chard and goat cheese frittata (it was very good) for dinner tonight, and it got me thinking about why chard is called "Swiss" in this country. I did a couple of searches on it and found a couple of contradictory answers. All that was agreed upon was that it is not Swiss, but Mediterranean in origin. I came across a Fordhook variety of chard on the web though, and that got me thinking about Fordhook lima beans. I assumed there must be a connection and it turns out the Fordhook Farm, Doylestown, PA was owned by one W. Atlee Burpee, founder of the now famous Burpee Seed Company. The large, fat lima bean discovered and developed by Burpee sometime around 1900 still bears the name of the farm today (although they are called butter beans in the south.) So that's what I learned today, boys and girls.
Swiss chard is a nutritional powerhouse though; check out its fan page over at The World's Healthiest Foods.
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