The Kindness of Spinach

Spinach has the ability to shine in the presence of a dazzling variety of flavors. Lemon is one, but then anything sour brightens greens. In other cuisines, sourness for spinach includes rice vinegar, tamarind water and sake. Nutmeg is another friend of spinach. Sweet and lemon basils are others. Tomatoes another. Garlic another. Cool-season spinach is cultivated enthusiastically in Mediterranean climates because it’s so delicious with almost everything that’s harvested there, including pine nuts and raisins.

Walnuts make a wonderful spinach garnish. So do pomegranate seeds. Eggs are great with spinach, especially poached in a creamy spinach bed. Mushrooms, bacon and cheese are de rigueur in spinach salad. And mustard. Remember to add a flick of powdered mustard to spinach salad dressing.

One serving has the recommended daily allowance of folic acid, more than the RDA of Vitamin A, half the RDA of Vitamin C, significant amounts of iron, magnesium, Vitamin E, riboflavin, calcium and Vitamin B6, and more potassium than a banana. But there’s a trickster in spinach’s make-up. Oxalic acid--part of what gives spinach its snap--binds itself to the calcium and iron, and only half its iron and hardly any of its calcium are available to the body.

If you’re like me, try to keep a patch of spinach growing the year around. A number of cultivars are impervious to freezing temperatures as long as they’re sheltered with a floating row cover, straw or snow or set in a cold frame. If you’re enjoying spinach from your garden now, it will have been sown in autumn. In temperate parts of Southern California, spinach can be sown autumn through early spring. Seeds will germinate in soil as cold as 45 degrees and as warm as 85 degrees, but the optimum temperature is 70 degrees. Wherever you live, stop sowing six weeks before daytime temperatures are expected to stay around 75 degrees.

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Spinach leaves come either smooth or crinkled (“savoyed”). Some say smooth leaves are milder, but I love the look and crunch of savoyed leaves.

After taste, resistance to bolting is most important in spinach cultivars. The plants are quick to send up flower stalks when hot weather strikes, and that’s the end of fine leaves. Semi-savoyed Indian Summer, savoyed Tyee, and smooth-leafed Olympia and Estivato are slow to bolt.

In my garden, I can carry a bolt-resistant spinach through summer. I grow plants in a spot of bright shade that gets an afternoon breeze. I spritz leaves with water when it’s terribly hot and keep picking flower stalks as they come. For winter spinach, I often grow a version of old-fashioned Bloomsdale--very savoyed Bloomsdale Savoy is especially hardy. I’m partial to Asian spinach for winter. Succulent hybrid Ace Japanese spinach grows marvelously in both winter cold and summer heat.

Spinach will give you beautiful leaves if you give it fertile soil. Those of you with clay will be happy to know that spinach is slower to go to seed in clay than in sand. Because a quick fix of nitrogen just before planting can result in leaves with high nitrate content, don’t manure the soil just before you sow and, contrary to what you may read elsewhere, don’t feed nitrogen to growing spinach. If the soil is good and kept moist, you’ll have fine spinach. Growing spinach among peas gives leaves a little boost of nitrogen from the legumes, an old New England trick. A floating row cover will keep off disease-bearing insects. Where mildew is a problem, sow semi-savoyed Skookum F1 in raised beds and water at soil level. Watch for slugs.

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You can harvest spinach stalk by stalk or cut whole plants above the crown--more stalks will come. If you were to sow spinach every 10 days for a continuous supply, you could afford to pull whole plants and you’d have crowns to eat. Spinach grows easily in two-gallon containers. Rinsing spinach, even if it’s muddy, even if it’s marvelously savoyed, is a cinch if you use lukewarm water. The warmth relaxes the leaves just enough to release the earth caught in the folds.

Rinsed leaves can be wrapped in a damp kitchen towel and refrigerated for a few hours. To refrigerate spinach for a few days, don’t rinse--the leaves molder.

Most recipes call for spinach leaves only, telling you to discard the stems. Don’t listen. The stems are flavorful. They add texture and nutrients. If they’re tough, however, nip them off.

The most voluptuous part of spinach is the rosy crown just above the root. Small ones are eaten whole; large ones must be sliced lengthwise into a few pieces. Rinse the crowns well, then simmer uncovered in boiling salted water until tender-crunchy, three minutes. Drain and season with a splash of lemon juice, or soy sauce, or sesame oil. Spinach crowns are not only delightful in texture and taste, but a luxury, since a dozen small ones make a serving and that’s a sacrifice of as many plants.

Sources:

At the market, buy spinach by the bunch, choosing the perkiest and ignoring any with yellowing or dissolving leaves.

Seeds:

Bloomsdale Savoy, Tyee F1, Olympia F1, Skookum F1 and floating row cover from Territorial Seed Co., 20 Palmer Ave., Cottage Grove, Ore. 97424.

Indian Summer hybrid and Estivato from the Cook’s Garden, P.O. Box 535, Londonderry, Vt. 05148.

Ace from Evergreen Y.H. Enterprises, P.O. Box 17538, Anaheim, Calif. 92817.

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Here’s the way to prepare spinach as fresh as springtime, tossed together in a trice.

QUICK SPINACH WITH SESAME SEEDS

2 pounds spinach

2 tablespoons peanut or other nut oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce, preferably low-sodium

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 garlic clove, minced

Rounded 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Freshly ground black pepper

Rinse spinach carefully, but leave branches attached to roots. Drain thoroughly and pat dry. In small bowl, blend soy sauce, lemon juice and garlic.

Heat oil in wok or large heavy skillet over high heat. Add spinach. Stir with pancake turner to gently keep spinach moving. Cook about 1 minute, until tender.

Remove from heat. Sprinkle over soy sauce and sesame seeds. Season to taste with pepper. Mix to blend. Serve. Can also be served at room temperature. Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Each of 4 servings contains about:

144 calories; 673 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 10 grams fat; 10 grams carbohydrates; 8 grams protein; 2.17 grams fiber.