Spinach

{{short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{about|the plant, ''Spinacia oleracea''|other uses|Spinach (disambiguation)}} {{speciesbox |name = Spinach |image = Spinacia oleracea Spinazie bloeiend.jpg |genus = Spinacia |species = oleracea |authority = L. |image2 = Illustration Spinacia oleracea1.jpg }}

'''Spinach''' ('''''Spinacia oleracea''''') is a leafy green flowering plant native to Central and Western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common vegetable consumed either fresh, cooked or after storage (using preservation techniques like canning, freezing, or dehydration). The taste differs considerably between cooked and raw: the high oxalate content may be reduced by blanching.

It is an annual plant (rarely biennial), growing as tall as {{convert|1|ft|cm|order=flip|abbr=on}}. Spinach may overwinter in temperate regions. The leaves are alternate, simple, ovate to triangular, and very variable in size: {{convert|2–30|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1–15|cm|in|frac=2|abbr=on}} broad, with larger leaves at the base of the plant and small leaves higher on the flowering stem. The flowers are inconspicuous, yellow-green, {{convert|3–4|mm|in|frac=32|abbr=on}} in diameter, and mature into a small, hard, dry, lumpy fruit cluster {{convert|5–10|mm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} across containing several seeds.

In 2024, world production of spinach was 31 million tonnes, with China alone accounting for 92% of the total.<ref name=faostat/>

==Etymology==

The English word "spinach" dates to the late 14th century from the Old French word ''espinache''.<ref name="Online Etym">{{cite web |title=Spinach |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/spinach#etymonline_v_24022 |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper |access-date=27 April 2025 |date=2019}}</ref> The name entered European languages from medieval Latin ''spinagium'', borrowed from Andalusian Arabic, ''isbinakh'', that in turn derives from Persian ''aspānāḵ''.<ref name="Cresswell2010">{{cite book|author=Julia Cresswell|title=Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins|chapter=spinach [ME]|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4i3zV4vnBAC&q=spinach|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=J4i3zV4vnBAC|date=9 September 2010|location=Oxford|publisher=OUP |isbn=978-0-19-954793-7|page=415}}</ref><ref name="Online Etym"/>

==Taxonomy== Common spinach (''S. oleracea'') was long considered to be in the family Chenopodiaceae, but in 2003 that family was merged into the Amaranthaceae in the order Caryophyllales.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Caryophyllales|url=https://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/orders/caryophyllalesweb.htm#Amaranthaceae|access-date=2020-12-02|website=www.mobot.org}}</ref><ref name="Dawling2013">{{cite book|author=Pam Dawling|title=Sustainable Market Farming: Intensive Vegetable Production on a Few Acres|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JlIwbBcglxEC&pg=PA244|date=1 February 2013|publisher=New Society Publishers|isbn=978-1-55092-512-8|pages=244–}}</ref> Within the family Amaranthaceae ''sensu lato'', Spinach belongs to the subfamily Chenopodioideae.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Rubatzky|first1=Vincent E.|chapter=Spinach, Table Beets, and Other Vegetable Chenopods|date=1997|url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-6015-9_21|title=World Vegetables: Principles, Production, and Nutritive Values|pages=457–473|editor-last=Rubatzky|editor-first=Vincent E.|place=Boston, MA|publisher=Springer US|language=en|doi=10.1007/978-1-4615-6015-9_21|isbn=978-1-4615-6015-9|access-date=2021-06-11|last2=Yamaguchi|first2=Mas|editor2-last=Yamaguchi|editor2-first=Mas|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Description==

As opposed to most flowering plants used as vegetables, spinach is a dioecious plant, meaning different plants can have either female or male flowers.{{efn|Asparagus and sorrel are the other notable exceptions.}}<ref name="Birlouez">{{Cite book |title=Petite et grande histoire des légumes |last=Birlouez |first=Éric |publisher=Quæ |year=2020 |edition=1 |location=Versailles/impr. en Suisse |language=French |url=https://www.quae.com/produit/1648/9782759231973/petite-et-grande-histoire-des-legumes |series=Carnets de sciences |volume= |publication-place=Versailles/impr. en Suisse |page=52-54 |trans-title=A small and great history of vegetables |chapter=Une fabuleuse diversité, «L'épinard, légume de carème» |trans-chapter=A fabulous diversity, «Spinach, the lent vegetable» |isbn=978-2-7592-3196-6}} Quæ</ref> The flowers are small, green and wind pollinated.

<gallery mode=nolines widths=200 heights=200> Spinacia oleracea male flowers, spinazie mannelijke bloemen.jpg|Spinach male flowers Spinacia oleracea female flowers, spinazie vrouwelijke bloemen.jpg|Spinach female flowers Spinach seeds round.jpg|Round seeds of the 'Monnopa' cultivar Spinach seeds spiky.jpg|Spiky seeds of the 'Erste Ernte' cultivar </gallery>

==History==

Spinach is thought to have originated about 2,000 years ago in ancient Persia from which it was introduced to India and later to ancient China via Nepal in 647 CE as the "Persian vegetable".<ref name="vf">{{cite web|date=2019|title=Spinach history - origins of different types of spinach|url=https://www.vegetablefacts.net/vegetable-history/spinach-history/|access-date=2 November 2019|publisher=Vegetable Facts}}</ref> In 827 CE, the Arabs introduced spinach to Sicily.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Rolland|first1=Jacques L.|title=The Food Encyclopedia|last2=Sherman|first2=Carol|date=2006|publisher=Robert Rose|isbn=9780778801504|location=Toronto|pages=335–338}}</ref> The first written evidence of spinach in the Mediterranean was recorded in three 10th-century works: a medical work by al-Rāzī (known as Rhazes in the West) and in two agricultural treatises, one by Ibn Waḥshīyah and the other by Qusṭus al-Rūmī. Spinach became a popular vegetable in the Arab Mediterranean and arrived in the Iberian Peninsula by the latter part of the 12th century, where Ibn al-ʻAwwām called it ''{{transliteration|ar|ALA|raʼīs al-buqūl}}'', 'the chieftain of leafy greens'.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ibn al-ʻAwwām|first1=Yaḥyá ibn Muḥammad|title=Kitāb al-Filāḥah|year=1802|chapter=23.8|author-link1=Ibn al-Awwam|access-date=July 30, 2014|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=daZEAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA160}}</ref> Spinach was also the subject of a special treatise in the 11th century by Ibn Ḥajjāj.<ref>Clifford A. Wright. ''Mediterranean Vegetables: A Cook's ABC of Vegetables and their Preparation in Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, with More than 200 Authentic Recipes for the Home Cook''. (Boston: Harvard Common Press, 2001). pp. 300-301.</ref>{{better source needed|date=February 2022}}

Spinach first appeared in England and France in the 14th century, probably via Iberia, and gained common use because it appeared in early spring when fresh local vegetables were not available.<ref name="vf" /> Spinach is mentioned in the first known English cookbook, the ''Forme of Cury'' (1390), where it is referred to as 'spinnedge' and 'spynoches'.<ref name="vf" /><ref>{{cite book|last1=Rolland|first1=Jacques|url=http://www.canadianliving.com/glossary/spinach.php|series=Spinach|last2=Sherman|first2=Carol|title=The Food Encyclopedia: Over 8,000 Ingredients, Tools, Techniques and People|publisher=Robert Rose|year=2006|location=Toronto|access-date=March 7, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724195456/http://www.canadianliving.com/glossary/spinach.php|archive-date=July 24, 2011|isbn=9780778801504}}</ref> During World War I, wine fortified with spinach juice was given to injured French soldiers with the intent to curtail their bleeding.<ref name="vf" /><ref name="GrieveGrieve1971">{{cite book|author1=Margaret Grieve|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KgfHxvGFHAoC&pg=PA761|title=A modern herbal: the medicinal, culinary, cosmetic and economic properties, cultivation and folk-lore of herbs, grasses, fungi, shrubs, & trees with all their modern scientific uses|author2=Maud Grieve|date=1 June 1971|publisher=Courier Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-22799-3|pages=761–|access-date=13 August 2010}}</ref>

== Culinary use ==

=== Nutrients ===

{{nutritional value | name=Spinach, raw | water=91.4 g | kJ=97 | protein=2.9 g | fat=0.4 g | carbs=3.6 g | fiber=2.2 g | sugars=0.4 g | calcium_mg=99 | iron_mg=2.71 | magnesium_mg=79 | phosphorus_mg=49 | potassium_mg=558 | sodium_mg=79 | zinc_mg=0.53 | manganese_mg=0.897 | vitC_mg=28 | thiamin_mg=0.078 | riboflavin_mg=0.189 | niacin_mg=0.724 | vitB6_mg=0.195 | folate_ug=194 | vitA_ug=469 | vitA_iu=9377 | betacarotene_ug=5626 | lutein_ug=12198 | vitE_mg=2 | vitK_ug=483 | source_usda = 1 | note=[https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/168462/nutrients Link to USDA database entry] }}

Raw spinach is 91% water, 4% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and contains negligible fat (table). In a {{convert|100|g|oz|frac=2|abbr=off|adj=on}} reference serving providing {{convert|97|kJ|kcal|abbr=off}} of food energy, spinach has a high nutritional value, especially when fresh, frozen, steamed, or quickly boiled. It is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, and folate (31-52% DV), with an especially high content of vitamin K (403% DV) (table). Spinach is a moderate source (10–19% of DV) of the B vitamins, riboflavin and vitamin B<sub>6</sub>, vitamin E, potassium, iron, magnesium, and dietary fiber (table).

===Cooking and oxalates=== Spinach contains oxalates, which may inhibit absorption of calcium and iron in the stomach and small intestine. Cooked spinach, such as by blanching, has lower levels of oxalates, allowing some micronutrients to be absorbed more completely.<ref name="National Osteoporosis Foundation 2015">{{cite web |title=Osteoporosis Diet & Nutrition: Foods for Bone Health |website=National Osteoporosis Foundation |date=2015-12-21 |url=https://www.nof.org/patients/treatment/nutrition/ |access-date=2019-11-18}}</ref><ref name="noonan">{{cite journal |journal=Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition |year=1999 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=64–74 |title=Oxalate content of foods and its effect on humans |last1=Noonan |first1=S.C. |last2=Savage |first2=G.P. |pmid=24393738 |url=https://apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/APJCN/8/1/64.pdf |doi=10.1046/j.1440-6047.1999.00038.x}}</ref>

Cooking spinach significantly decreases its vitamin C concentration, as vitamin C is degraded by heating. Folate levels may also be decreased, as folate tends to leach into cooking liquid.<ref name = Delchier>{{Cite journal |last1=Delchier |first1=N. |last2=Reich |first2=M. |last3=Renard |first3=C.M.G.C. |title=Impact of cooking methods on folates, ascorbic acid and lutein in green beans (''Phaseolus vulgaris'') and spinach (''Spinacea oleracea'') |journal=Food Science and Technology |date=December 2012 |issue=2 |volume=49 |pages=197–201| doi=10.1016/j.lwt.2012.06.017 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Spinach is rich in nitrates and nitrites, which may exceed safe levels if spinach is over-consumed.<ref> {{Cite journal |title=Monitoring of nitrites and nitrates levels in leafy vegetables (spinach and lettuce): a contribution to risk assessment |journal=J Sci Food Agric |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jsfa.6439 |last1=Iammarino |first1=M |issue=4 |volume=94 |pages=773–778 |last2=Di Taranto |first2=A. |publisher=Wiley |doi=10.1002/jsfa.6439 |year=2014 |pmid=24122771 |last3=Cristino |first3=M. |bibcode=2014JSFA...94..773I |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

=== Cuisine===

Spinach is eaten raw, in salads, and cooked in soups, curries, or casseroles. Dishes with spinach as a main ingredient include spinach salad, spinach soup, spinach dip, saag paneer, pkhali, ispanakhi matsvnit, and spanakopita.

In classical French cuisine, a spinach-based dish may be described as à la Florentine.<ref>{{cite news |last=Franey |first=Pierre |title=60-minute Gourmet: Chicken breasts enhanced with a spinach stuffing |newspaper=New York Times |date=October 5, 1983 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1983/10/05/garden/60-minute-gourmet-209336.html |accessdate=September 6, 2021 }}</ref>

<gallery mode=packed heights=130> File:Home cooked Chicken Florentine in 2021.jpg|Chicken Florentine, meaning with spinach File:Spanakopita.jpg|Spanakopita, a Greek spinach pastry File:Mutton saag.jpg|Saag gosht, an Indian dish </gallery>

== Production == {| class="wikitable floatright" style="width:12em; text-align:center;" |+ Spinach production <br>{{small|2024, millions of tonnes}}<br/> |- |{{CHN}} || 28.3 |- |{{USA}} || 0.3 |- |{{JAP}} || 0.2 |- |{{TUR}} || 0.2 |- |'''World''' || '''30.7''' |- |colspan=2 |{{small|Source: UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Statistics Division}}<ref name="faostat">{{cite web|url=https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/QCL|publisher=UN Food and Agriculture Organization|title=Spinach production in 2024; Crops/Regions/World/Production Quantity/Year from pick lists|year=2026|access-date=24 March 2026}}</ref> |}

In 2024, world production of spinach was 31 million tonnes, with China alone accounting for 92% of the total (table).

===Marketing and safety===

Fresh spinach is sold loose, bunched, or packaged fresh in bags. Fresh spinach loses much of its nutritional value with storage of more than a few days.<ref name="sd">{{cite web | url = https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/03/050323124809.htm | title=Storage time and temperature effects nutrients in spinach|date=23 March 2005|publisher=ScienceDaily|author=Pennsylvania State University | access-date = 5 July 2008}}</ref> Fresh spinach is packaged in air, or in nitrogen gas to extend shelf life. While refrigeration slows this effect to about eight days, fresh spinach loses most of its folate and carotenoid content over this period of time. For longer storage, it is canned, or blanched or cooked and frozen.<ref name=sd/>

Some packaged spinach is exposed to radiation to kill any harmful bacteria. The Food and Drug Administration approves of irradiation of spinach leaves up to an absorbed dose of 4.0 kilograys, having no or only a minor effect on nutrient content.<ref name="bliss">{{cite web|author=Bliss|first=Rosalie Marion|date=27 May 2010|title=Nutrient retention of safer salads explored|url=https://www.ars.usda.gov/news-events/news/research-news/2010/nutrient-retention-of-safer-salads-explored/|publisher=US Department of Agriculture}}</ref>

Spinach may be high in cadmium contamination depending on the soil and location where the spinach is grown.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxguides/toxguide-5.pdf |title=ToxGuide for cadmium |publisher=Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, US Department of Health and Human Services |location=Atlanta, GA |date=October 2012}}</ref>

Due to spinach's high content of vitamin K, individuals taking the anticoagulant warfarin, which acts by inhibiting vitamin K, are instructed to minimize consumption of spinach (and other dark green leafy vegetables).<ref name="mayo">{{cite web |author=Sheps SG|title=Warfarin diet: What foods should I avoid? |url=https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/thrombophlebitis/expert-answers/warfarin/faq-20058443 |publisher=Mayo Clinic |access-date=6 March 2019 |date=19 April 2018}}</ref>

== In popular culture ==

[[File:ItsBroccoliCarlRose.jpg|thumb|The American phrase "I say it's spinach" meaning "nonsense" comes from a 1928 cartoon in ''The New Yorker''.<ref name=harper>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=spinach&searchmode=term |title=spinach (n.) |author=Douglas Harper |work=Online Etymology Dictionary |accessdate=February 2, 2014}}</ref><ref name=time>{{cite magazine |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,815645,00.html |title=The Press: I Say It's Spinach |date=October 22, 1951 |magazine=Time |access-date=February 1, 2014 |url-access=subscription |quote=Many a New Yorkerism (e.g., Cartoonist Carl Rose's 'I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it') has become a part of the language.}}</ref>|alt=A cartoon depicting a mother telling her daughter "It's broccoli, dear" over a dish at a dining table. The child answers: "I say it's spinach, and I say the hell with it.". It is signed by Carl Rose.]]

The comics and cartoon character Popeye the Sailor Man is portrayed as gaining strength by consuming canned spinach.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2009/dec/08/ec-segar-popeye-google-doodle |title=E.C. Segar, Popeye's creator, celebrated with a Google doodle |last=Gabbat |first=Adam |date=8 December 2009 |newspaper=The Guardian |access-date=5 May 2010}}</ref> The accompanying song lyric is: "I'm strong to the finich {{Sic}}, 'cuz I eats me spinach."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Holloway |first1=Diane |title=American History in Song: Lyrics from 1900 to 1945 |date=2001 |publisher=Authors Choice Press |isbn=978-0-595-19331-8 |page=294 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zj5QxjMh9aAC |access-date=18 November 2022 |language=en}}</ref> This is usually attributed to the iron content of spinach, but in a 1932 strip, Popeye states that "spinach is full of vitamin A" and that is what makes people strong and healthy.<ref>Joe Schwarcz, ''Monkeys, Myths, and Molecules: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Science of Everyday Life'', 2015, {{isbn|1770411917}}, p. 245; spinach actually contains beta-carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A</ref> As it happens, spinach is not a better source of dietary iron than many other vegetables. The false idea that spinach is an especially good source of dietary iron is an academic urban legend.<ref name="Rekdal 2014">{{cite journal |last=Rekdal |first=Ole Bjorn |title=Academic urban legends |journal=Social Studies of Science |date=June 12, 2014 |volume=44 |issue=4 |pages=638–654 |doi=10.1177/0306312714535679|pmid=25272616 |pmc=4232290 }}</ref>

== Notes ==

== References ==

== External links ==

{{Sisterlinks}} * {{Wikispecies-inline}} * {{Cookbook-inline}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q81464}} {{Authority control}} Category:Endemic flora of Iran Category:Spinach Category:Amaranthaceae Category:Leaf vegetables Category:Plants described in 1753