Spinacia oleracea

Spinach

AmaranthaceaeLeavesSeeds/NutsScore: 45/100Potential hazards — see below

food

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What to Eat

Edible parts: Leaves, Seeds sprouts, Vegetable

Leaves can be eaten raw or cooked — tender young leaves work well in salads, while older leaves are used as greens or added to soups. The leaves contain oxalic acid (6–8% in young leaves, 23–27% in the cotyledons). Seeds can be eaten raw or cooked and can be sprouted and added to salads. Chlorophyll extracted from the leaves serves as an edible green dye. Nutritional composition per 100g dry weight (285 calories, 0% water): Protein 28g, Fat 5.5g, Carbohydrate 40g, Fibre 8g, Ash 23g; Calcium 800mg, Phosphorus 415mg, Iron 80mg, Sodium 650mg, Potassium 4500mg; Vitamin A 50mg, Thiamine (B1) 0.7mg, Riboflavin (B2) 2mg, Niacin 8mg, Vitamin C 600mg. Vitamin A figures are in milligrams; values are based on median figures from available reports.

Known Hazards

Fresh spinach is sold loose, bunched, or packaged fresh in bags. Fresh spinach loses much of its nutritional value with storage of more than a few days. Fresh spinach is packaged in air, or in nitrogen gas to extend shelf life. While refrigeration slows this effect to about eight days, fresh spinach loses most of its folate and carotenoid content over this period of time. For longer storage, it is canned, or blanched or cooked and frozen. Some packaged spinach is exposed to radiation to kill any harmful bacteria. The Food and Drug Administration approves of irradiation of spinach leaves up to an absorbed dose of 4.0 kilograys, having no or only a minor effect on nutrient content. Spinach may be high in cadmium contamination depending on the soil and location where the spinach is grown. Due to spinach's high content of vitamin K, individuals taking the anticoagulant warfarin, which acts by inhibiting vitamin K, are instructed to minimize consumption of spinach (and other dark green leafy vegetables).

Where to Find It

It is a temperate plant. It does not suit the tropical lowlands and grows best where the temperature varies between 10°C and 20°C or above 2000 m altitude. The kind with very prickly seeds is frost resistant. Plants need a deep well drained soil. It is a cool season, short day plant. In Nepal it grows to about 1400 m altitude. It suits hardiness zones 6-9.

Afghanistan, Africa, Andorra, Armenia, Asia, Australia, Austria, Balkans, Bangladesh, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain, Bulgaria, Caucasus, Central America, Central Asia, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Africa, East Timor, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Europe, Fiji, France, Georgia, Germany, Haiti, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mali, Mediterranean, Middle East, Nauru, Nepal, North America, Northeastern India, Pacific, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, PNG, Peru, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, SE Asia, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Southern Africa, South America, Spain, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Tasmania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uruguay, USA, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, West Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe,

Countries: Andorra, United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Antigua & Barbuda, Albania, Armenia, Angola, Argentina, Austria, Australia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Barbados, Bangladesh, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Bulgaria, Bahrain, Burundi, Benin, Brunei, Bolivia, Brazil, Bahamas, Bhutan, Botswana, Belarus, Belize, Canada, Congo (DRC), Central African Republic, Congo (Republic), Switzerland, Cote d'Ivoire, Chile, Cameroon, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Cape Verde, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Djibouti, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Algeria, Ecuador, Estonia, Egypt, Eritrea, Spain, Ethiopia, Finland, Fiji, Micronesia, France, Gabon, United Kingdom, Grenada, Georgia, French Guiana, Ghana, Gambia, Guinea, Equatorial Guinea, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Honduras, Croatia, Haiti, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, India, Iraq, Iran, Iceland, Italy, Jamaica, Jordan, Japan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Cambodia, Kiribati, Comoros, St Kitts & Nevis, North Korea, South Korea, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Laos, Lebanon, St Lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri Lanka, Liberia, Lesotho, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Libya, Morocco, Monaco, Moldova, Montenegro, Madagascar, Marshall Islands, North Macedonia, Mali, Myanmar, Mongolia, Mauritania, Malta, Mauritius, Maldives, Malawi, Mexico, Malaysia, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Nicaragua, Netherlands, Norway, Nepal, Nauru, New Zealand, Oman, Panama, Peru, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Pakistan, Poland, Puerto Rico, Portugal, Palau, Paraguay, Qatar, Romania, Serbia, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Solomon Islands, Seychelles, Sudan, Sweden, Singapore, Slovenia, Slovakia, Sierra Leone, San Marino, Senegal, Somalia, Suriname, South Sudan, Sao Tome & Principe, El Salvador, Syria, Eswatini, Chad, Togo, Thailand, Tajikistan, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Tunisia, Tonga, Turkey, Trinidad & Tobago, Tuvalu, Taiwan, Tanzania, Ukraine, Uganda, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, St Vincent, Venezuela, Vietnam, Vanuatu, Samoa, Yemen, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe

How to Identify

An annual leafy vegetable. It grows 60-90 cm high and spreads 30-45 cm wide. The broad leaves are produced in a clump on short stalks. The leaves at the base are large and leaves on the stalk are smaller. Plants are separately male and female. (So both types are needed if seed is to be produced.) Flowers are greenish in spikes.

Nutrition Score: 45/100

Part	Moisture	kJ	kcal	Protein	Vit A	Vit C	Iron	Zinc
Leaves - raw	91.6	61	15	2.9	32	52	2.71	0.5
Leaves - boiled	92.9	57	14	2.4	819	29	2.9	0.8

How to Grow

Plants grow best and produce their heaviest crop of leaves on a nitrogen-rich soil. They dislike very heavy or very light soils. They also dislike acid soils, preferring a neutral to slightly alkaline soil. Plants require plenty of moisture in the growing season, dry summers causing the plants to quickly run to seed. Summer crops do best in light shade to encourage more leaf production before the plant goes to seed, winter crops require a warm dry sunny position. Young plants are hardy to about -9°c. Spinach is often cultivated for its edible leaves, there are some named varieties. These varieties can be grouped into two main types as detailed below:- Forms with prickly seeds. These are the more primitive forms. Their leaves are more lobed and they are in general more cold tolerant and also more resistant of summer heat. They were more often used to produce a crop in the winter. Forms with round seeds have been developed in cultivation, These have broader leaves, tend to be less cold hardy and were also more prone to bolt in hot weather. They were used mainly for the summer crop. Most new cultivars are of the round seeded variety and these have been developed to be more resistant to bolting in hot weather, more cold tolerant, to produce more leaves and also to be lower in calcium oxalate which causes bitterness and also has negative nutritional effects upon the body. Some modern varieties have been developed that are low in oxalic acid. Edible leaves can be obtained all year round from successional sowings. The summer varieties tend to run to seed fairly quickly, especially in hot dry summers and so you need to make successional sowings every few weeks if a constant supply is required. Winter varieties provide leaves for a longer period, though they soon run to seed when the weather warms up. Spinach grows well with strawberries. It also grows well with cabbages, onions, peas and celery. A fast-growing plant, the summer crop can be interplanted between rows of slower growing plants such as Brussels sprouts. The spinach would have been harvested before the other crop needs the extra space. Spinach is a bad companion for grapes and hyssop. In garden design, as well as the above-ground architecture of a plant, root structure considerations help in choosing plants that work together for their optimal soil requirements including nutrients and water. Thick or swollen - fibrous or tap root.

Propagation: For a summer crop, sow seed in situ from March to June, making successional sowings roughly once a month to ensure a continuous supply. Seed germinates within about two weeks and the first leaves can be harvested around six weeks after sowing. For a winter crop, sow in situ during August and September.

Medicinal Uses

The plant is carminative and laxative, and has been shown in experiments to have hypoglycaemic properties. It has been used in the treatment of urinary calculi. The leaves have been used to treat febrile conditions and inflammation of the lungs and bowels. The seeds are laxative and cooling and have been used for difficult breathing and inflammation of the liver and jaundice.

Other Uses

A yellow dye is obtained from the leaves.

Wikipedia

Source ↗

Spinacia oleracea is a fast-growing annual reaching 0.3 m (1 ft) tall, hardy to UK zone 5. Foliage is present year-round with flowers from June to September. The plant is dioecious with wind pollination, requiring both male and female plants for seed production. It adapts to light sandy, medium loamy, and heavy clay soils across mildly acid to mildly alkaline pH ranges, growing in semi-shade to full sun with preference for moist soil.

Production

The older leaves are picked off. They can be harvested starting at 8 weeks.

Other Information

It is a commercially cultivated vegetable. Not often seen in Papua New Guinea.

Notes

There are 3 Spinacia species. They are native to central Asia. Also put in the family Chenopodiaceae.

Names & Synonyms

Bapxoi, Bathai, Bo cai, Dumpabachhali, Espinaca, Epinard, Gobre palungo, Horen-so, Isfanaj, Isfanak, Matturbachhali, Mithapalanga, Palak shak, Palak, Palaksag, Palang, Palanga, Palangsag, Palong shak, Palungo sag, Pinnis, Sigeumchi, Sipinichi, špinača, Spinach soppu, Spinaksoppu, Valayati sag, Vasaylebachhali

Spinacia glabra Mill. Spinacia inermis MoenchSpinacia spinosa Moench

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