Spinach
Spinacia oleracea
Mild earthy sweetness with subtle mineral notes; raw is delicate, cooked concentrates the savory umami undertone.
About Spinach
Spinach is the workhorse cooking green of Western cuisine — versatile across raw and cooked applications, fast-cooking, and nutritionally dense with iron, folate, and vitamin K. The plant belongs to the amaranth family alongside chard and beet greens, all of which share spinach's tendency to wilt dramatically from raw volume to cooked volume (a 5-ounce bag yields perhaps a half-cup of cooked spinach). Spinach divides into smooth-leaf (baby spinach, salad-friendly, mild) and savoy (curly-leaf, heartier, traditional for cooking). Italian, French, Indian, and Middle Eastern cuisines all built canonical dishes around spinach — saag, spanakopita, palak paneer, creamed spinach, ricotta-spinach pasta fillings. Modern American supermarkets sell baby spinach in clamshell containers as a salad green, but the plant's deeper culinary heritage is in cooked applications.
Variety profile
Common uses
- Sautéed side
- Salad base (baby spinach)
- Pasta filling
- Saag/curry
- Quiche/frittata
Editorial notes
Bagged baby spinach is convenient but often expensive per ounce vs bunch spinach. Bunches from farmers markets typically have better flavor and last longer in the fridge.