How your health can benefit from eating spinach
It might be too soon to find local spinach at your grocery store but whether it's from south of Canada or locally grown, fresh spinach is excellent and bountiful at this time of the year, so take advantage of this delicious, nutritious and versatile vegetable.
Why spinach is so good for you
Popeye was right. Spinach is a nutritional superstar. It's rich in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and may even slow the aging process. It's also an excellent source of lutein, a plant substance associated with a decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. One cup/250 mL of raw spinach provides lots of vitamin C, potassium and fibre for just 12 calories. Just 1/2 cup/125 mL of cooked spinach delivers 50 per cent of the recommended daily amount of folate, which is essential for healthy blood cells and it helps prevent neural tube defects. Spinach is also high in protein, vitamins A, E, K and B6, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese.
Which spinach to buy?
Spinach comes in many forms: bunched, bagged, packaged and frozen. All are good, but bunched spinach is tops for flavour.
Bunched spinach: You can find bunched spinach in Chinese and Korean markets so head to a Chinatown or Chinese market near you; they typically offer the best prices and often sell local produce. Most bunched spinach you'll find at the supermarket has tender stems that are as good to eat as the leaves, so you don't have to trim off stems. Spinach can be quite gritty so always clean it in at least two soakings of cold water.
Bagged spinach: The spinach you find in bags is often from varieties with tougher stems than bunched spinach. Bagged spinach seldom tastes as fresh or as tasty as bunched spinach, but it's a good product. Although bagged spinach comes "pre-cleaned," I soak it once in cold water before cooking.
Frozen spinach: Both frozen leaf spinach and frozen chopped spinach are good substitutes for fresh. Freezing diminishes some of the intense flavour of the vegetable, but it still retains enough good flavour to make it useful. Keep some on hand for emergencies; and in the winter when fresh spinach is either hard to find, half wilted and/or very expensive, it's great. Frozen chopped spinach can also be quite convenient to add to quick sauces, such as in Chicken in Spinach-Coconut Sauce, although I still prefer to blanch fresh bunched spinach and chop it for more intense flavour.
Baby spinach: As its name implies, baby spinach is picked before it fully matures. It's very tender but has less flavour than regular spinach. I use it only for salads and, in a pinch, for sautéeing (it needs no, or little, cleaning).
Click to continue for delicious spinach recipes...
Page 1 of 2
Why spinach is so good for you
Popeye was right. Spinach is a nutritional superstar. It's rich in beta-carotene, an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease, stroke, some cancers, and may even slow the aging process. It's also an excellent source of lutein, a plant substance associated with a decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. One cup/250 mL of raw spinach provides lots of vitamin C, potassium and fibre for just 12 calories. Just 1/2 cup/125 mL of cooked spinach delivers 50 per cent of the recommended daily amount of folate, which is essential for healthy blood cells and it helps prevent neural tube defects. Spinach is also high in protein, vitamins A, E, K and B6, thiamin, riboflavin, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese.
Which spinach to buy?
Spinach comes in many forms: bunched, bagged, packaged and frozen. All are good, but bunched spinach is tops for flavour.
Bunched spinach: You can find bunched spinach in Chinese and Korean markets so head to a Chinatown or Chinese market near you; they typically offer the best prices and often sell local produce. Most bunched spinach you'll find at the supermarket has tender stems that are as good to eat as the leaves, so you don't have to trim off stems. Spinach can be quite gritty so always clean it in at least two soakings of cold water.
Bagged spinach: The spinach you find in bags is often from varieties with tougher stems than bunched spinach. Bagged spinach seldom tastes as fresh or as tasty as bunched spinach, but it's a good product. Although bagged spinach comes "pre-cleaned," I soak it once in cold water before cooking.
Frozen spinach: Both frozen leaf spinach and frozen chopped spinach are good substitutes for fresh. Freezing diminishes some of the intense flavour of the vegetable, but it still retains enough good flavour to make it useful. Keep some on hand for emergencies; and in the winter when fresh spinach is either hard to find, half wilted and/or very expensive, it's great. Frozen chopped spinach can also be quite convenient to add to quick sauces, such as in Chicken in Spinach-Coconut Sauce, although I still prefer to blanch fresh bunched spinach and chop it for more intense flavour.
Baby spinach: As its name implies, baby spinach is picked before it fully matures. It's very tender but has less flavour than regular spinach. I use it only for salads and, in a pinch, for sautéeing (it needs no, or little, cleaning).
Click to continue for delicious spinach recipes...
Page 1 of 2
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