SPINACH
Most green vegetables
are extremely drought
resistant and are
sometimes regarded as
weeds. Although leafy
greens are low in calories,
carbohydrates, protein and
fats, they are very nutritious
vegetables that provide
(per cup) almost 200% the
daily requirement of vitamin
K, over 50% vitamin A and
approximately 15% folate
and vitamin C. Vitamin K is a
fat-soluble vitamin that plays
an important role in blood
clotting and bone health.
Spinach is also packed with
numerous plant chemicals,
like quercetin, zeaxanthin,
lutein and nitrates, which
give it its green colour and
slightly bitter taste. These
nutrients have been shown
to ward off infection and
lower inflammation, and
they play a role in heart
and eye health, as well as
cancer prevention. If you
are using blood-thinning
medication or have a history
of kidney stones, don’t
overdo it on dark, leafy
greens and first consult
your doctor when you start
increasing your intake. The
good news is that besides
a drop in vitamin C levels,
spinach loses very little of
its nutritional value when
cooked – especially if
you steam or flash-fry it.
Cooking your greens with
oil improves the absorption
of fat-soluble vitamins A
and K and is therefore a
wonderfully nutritious way
to enjoy your greens.
Oxalic acid, an organic
substance that can interfere
with the absorption of
minerals like iron and
calcium, is broken down
during the cooking process,
which is another advantage
of cooking spinach.
SPINACH
D
o you know
your spinach
from your Swiss
chard? While
these two leafy
greens are often
thought to be of
the same genus- due to their similar appearance,
flavour and nutritional properties –
they belong to different families.
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), with its
flat, rounded leaf, is a member of the
amaranth species, whereas Swiss
chard (also known as silverbeet), with
its curly leaf and thick stalk in jewel-
like hues of yellow and maroon, is part
of the chenopod family. Did you know
that beetroot leaves and those of
chard are essentially the same thing?
The primary difference is that beets
are grown mainly for their roots and
Swiss chard for its leaves. However,
beet leaves are delicious eaten raw
in salads or sautéed with a little olive
oil and balsamic. And, interestingly,
Swiss chard does not originate in
Switzerland! The plant’s scientific
name was determined by a Swiss
botanist and, thus, the vegetable’s
name pays tribute to his homeland.
Circling back to spinach, the first
record of this vegetable on ourcontinent can be traced back to 11th-
century North Africa, from where it
forged a leafy path down to South
Africa. Today, it is a much-loved staple
in many local food cultures – the Zulus
regard spinach (morogo) as a fortifying
food and one of the best-known
spinach-containing dishes in the Xhosa
tradition is umfino, which comprises
maize meal, spinach, potatoes and
cabbage. And, what would South
Africa be without creamed spinach?
A cornerstone of many local eateries’
side-dish options – together with its
ubiquitous partner, butternut –
creamed spinach is to the Afrikaans
culture what butter is to bread.
It would be remiss of us to leave
out baby spinach, the youngest
and sexiest of the bunch! Whether
scattered over savoury dishes as
garnish or tossed into salads, tender
baby leaf spinach bursts with sweet
flavour and ups the aesthetics of
a dish. In SA, the most common
variety of baby spinach is Dash, a
hybrid plant aptly named for its rapid
growth rate – it can be harvested
as frequently as every few days!
A word to the wise here: one can
only harvest and use the seeds of
heirloom and open-pollination spinach
varieties, not those of hybrids.