How often do you think about spinach? If you are like me, it’s only in the produce aisle when you need something green that lasts a long time and you can’t bear the idea of eating any more kale. Sure, spinach is a superfood with tons of vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and all the good stuff, but is it exciting? Is it romantic? Has it ever, ever been the stuff of dreams? I don’t think so.
And yet, if you very carefully read the catalog, this year you will find SEVEN (7) different plants, in addition to actual spinach, that have spinach in their names. Like spinach, they’re all leafy and green and edible, but there are a lot of differences too. Some are vining, some don’t taste like spinach, and one even grows in the shade. If you’re looking to shake up your vegetable game but like the nutrition and reliability of spinach, take a look.
V059 Perpetual Spinach Chard. This one is an old Italian heirloom chard. It’s in the same family as spinach, and apparently the young leaves taste a bit like spinach (the older ones less so) and it looks more like spinach than chard. But it’s still chard.
V118 Spinach Lettuce Romaine. In spite of having a ridiculously long name, each word of which is a different type of green, this is lettuce. It’s in the Daisy family, not the Amaranth family of spinach and the like, but it looks a lot like a rosette of spinach and has spinach’s improved nutrition as well.
V230 Caucasus Mountain Spinach. This one is very different from spinach, and from most vegetables, in that it is a twining vine, it grows in the shade, and it’s perennial. Its relationship to spinach comes from the flavor, not the finer texture, of its heart-shaped leaves.
V231 Aunt Lilli’s Spinach Hibiscus. Probably the most unusual and the least spinach-y on this list. It has lots of other common names that don’t include spinach, such as South Sea salad tree, sunset muskmallow, and slippery cabbage. It’s a large tropical shrub that has hibiscus-like flowers and leaves variegated with pink and burgundy. A member of the Mallow family, it’s related to cotton and okra, and you can eat any part of the plant, flowers included. Why the spinach in its name? Because its nutritious leaves can be used like spinach. That’s about the extent of it.
V232 Malabar Spinach, green. It’s pretty closely related to spinach, but it’s a twining vine that thrives in the heat of the summer when spinach gets bitter. Leaves taste like spinach but are thicker and chewier.
V233 Malabar Spinach, red. Similar to green, except this one has red stems and veins. Quite lovely in a pot. (Shown in photo).
V234 Strawberry Spinach. A self-seeding annual native to Minnesota, it’s in the same sub-class as spinach, but it grows edible leaves and berries. The leaves are a good substitute for spinach, the bright red berries are seedier and milder tasting than strawberries.
–Toria
Remember: “I’m strong to the finish, ’cause I eats me spinach.”
—Popeye the Sailor Man