Swiss chard stem discoloration

[Jenise]

I wilted some swiss chard for my breakfast this morning (I know, I eat weird), and cooked the stems and greens separately hoping to discover a way to sautee the sweet stems without them turning gray. I think I've discovered that cooking in stainless does better at this than, say, pains containing aluminum--I don't know why, only know it's so. After brekkie I came back to my computer to dig around on the 'net for more information, but found zip, nada. I am apparently either the only person who thinks gray's a problem or the only person who eats the stems. The one thing I haven't tried yet is blanching the stems before sauteeing--that's next.

But in the meantime I thought I'd ask if anyone here has discovered the secret.

Jenise, I've never had my stems turn gray. I grow rainbow swiss chard but when I do not have it, I buy red. I take the stems off of the leaves and cut up into bite size pieces. I sauté them in evoo until almost done, then add chopped garlic and the swiss chard leaves to wilt them. Sometimes I have to add a little chicken stock and put the lid on to finish the process, if they are older leaves. The ones I pick from my garden are never taller than 6 inches, therefore very tender. I cook them in a Le Creuset small Dutch oven, or if I have a small amount, a non-stick sauté pan. I wonder if you flash cook the stems over high heat, remove them to ice water like we do with green beans to retain that bright color? This just might work especially if you like them on the crunchy side.

I usually but the ones with red stems when making beans & greens soup. I usually also use kale and spinach. I remove the stems from both the kale and chard, as I like to add the greens about 5-10 minutes before serving and the stems take too long to cook. I chop up the stems and freeze them for use in making other soup. However, to get back to the subject, pigmentation in wines is affected by the pH, so to retain the color, you may want to try adding a touch of something acidic, like lemon juice or distilled vinegar when cooking the stems. Rhubarb has a lot of natural acidity and maintains it's color when cooked. Just a thought.