Spinach: Picking, Storing, and Cooking This Healthy Vegetable

Spinach is a vegetable that is common in many ethnic foods. It is almost always in season and is easy to grow. Although it does not contain as much iron as some people believe, it is a good source of Vitamins A, C, and E. Learn to cook and store spinach to work a new vegetable into your healthy lifestyle.

When buying spinach, you can purchase it frozen or in bunches or bags. Because good quality spinach can be found year round, avoid the frozen spinach. Unlike other frozen vegetables, spinach does not retain the same taste after being reheated. Bags of spinach can be alluring because of the time this prepackaged spinach saves in cleaning. Bunches of spinach tend to be in better conditioner, and have a slightly different flavor.

Make sure you are buying the proper amount for the dish you wish to make. You may be surprised to find that sautéed spinach cooks down to be a fraction of its fresh size. When you begin to cook with spinach, look for recipes that state fresh spinach quantities. After you become accustomed to regular cooking with spinach you will be able to estimate how much you need.

If you do decide to buy bunches of spinach instead of a bag, be prepared to spend some time cleaning it. Spinach is grown in sandy soil, which requires each leaf to be carefully washed. The best way of cleaning spinach is to wash it in several changes of water. If you have a two compartment sink, start in one compartment and then transfer the spinach to the other. The spinach is only clean when there is no sand in the water. Less careful cleaning could result in grit in your food.

After the spinach is clean, dry the spinach on paper towels or use a salad spinner. Remove the stem of the spinach leaf by folding the leaf in half lengthwise and pulling of the stem. Most people remove the stems for cooking because spinach stems take longer to cook and are much tougher than the leaf. Use what you can immediately after cleaning, spinach to be stored must be dry and placed in a bag.

To cook spinach, consider a common method of sautéing. First, boil a large pot of water. When the water is at a rolling boil, add the spinach for a second or two to blanch the vegetable. Remove the spinach quickly and drain as much moisture as possible. Then sauté the spinach with the appropriate seasonings. By lightly blanching the spinach beforehand, it removes the slight bitterness that is common.

Try to work spinach into your diet at least three times a week. Consider eating it raw in salads in addition to sautéed. Spinach is often pared with tomato based foods, consider adding it lasagna and other tomato sauce bakes. This is also an excellent way to encourage young children to become accustomed to the taste. Spinach is also the basis to many Indian, French, and Chinese dishes. Learn how to cook spinach in varying ways and open the door to exploring new types of ethnic cuisine.