Weird Spinach

K

kul guy u wish u were

New member
My friend and I want to the local farmer's market on Saturday. We bought
some bags of spinach leaves. The leaves are not like any spinach we've
ever had. They are the color and shape of spinach, but they are tough
and sort of rubbery.

I tried to saute it with bacon and onions, but my DH thought it was
"some kind of noodle"

Today I chopped some of it up and sauteed it with cooked chicken and
onion as a filling for chicken enchiladas. That way it wasn't bad, but I
threw half a bag away.

What causes spinach to be hard and rubbery? It was definitely fresh.
--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
 
"Janet Wilder" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
| My friend and I want to the local farmer's market on Saturday. We bought
| some bags of spinach leaves. The leaves are not like any spinach we've
| ever had. They are the color and shape of spinach, but they are tough
| and sort of rubbery.
|
| I tried to saute it with bacon and onions, but my DH thought it was
| "some kind of noodle"
|
| Today I chopped some of it up and sauteed it with cooked chicken and
| onion as a filling for chicken enchiladas. That way it wasn't bad, but I
| threw half a bag away.
|
| What causes spinach to be hard and rubbery? It was definitely fresh.

Janet, are you certain it was spinach and not kudzu?
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5536932/how_to_harvest_and_cook_kudzu_leaves.html
or http://tinyurl.com/5vw6tr6
" ...If you plan to eat them in salad make sure you harvest young leaves,
as the older, larger ones will be tougher. A lot of people like to par-boil
first and then saut? with onion, garlic, and olive oil. Another popular
cooking method is to just boil and eat them like spinach. You can also
can kudzu leaves for future use by processing in a pressure cooker...>

pavane
 
On 2/1/2011 8:52 PM, pavane wrote:

My goodness! They definitely sold it as "spinach"

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
 
Janet Wilder wrote:


I imagine it was spinach, but that this particular farmer's market
farmer has not yet figured out how to grow spinach. At farmer's markets
you end up with a lot of people's experiments in farming.


Steve
 
Steve Pope wrote:

Could it possibly have been "New Zealand Spinach"? Something we gre when I
was a kid that had a thicker leaf, but was definitely spinach of a sort.
 
"Janet Wilder" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
| On 2/1/2011 8:52 PM, pavane wrote:
| > "Janet Wilder" wrote in message
| > news:[email protected]...
| > | My friend and I want to the local farmer's market on Saturday. We bought
| > | some bags of spinach leaves. The leaves are not like any spinach we've
| > | ever had. They are the color and shape of spinach, but they are tough
| > | and sort of rubbery.
| > |
| > | I tried to saute it with bacon and onions, but my DH thought it was
| > | "some kind of noodle"
| > |
| > | Today I chopped some of it up and sauteed it with cooked chicken and
| > | onion as a filling for chicken enchiladas. That way it wasn't bad, but I
| > | threw half a bag away.
| > |
| > | What causes spinach to be hard and rubbery? It was definitely fresh.
| >
| > Janet, are you certain it was spinach and not kudzu?
| > http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5536932/how_to_harvest_and_cook_kudzu_leaves.html
| > or http://tinyurl.com/5vw6tr6
| > " ...If you plan to eat them in salad make sure you harvest young leaves,
| > as the older, larger ones will be tougher. A lot of people like to par-boil
| > first and then saut? with onion, garlic, and olive oil. Another popular
| > cooking method is to just boil and eat them like spinach. You can also
| > can kudzu leaves for future use by processing in a pressure cooker...>
| >
| > pavane
| >
| >
|
| My goodness! They definitely sold it as "spinach"

Well it is supposed to be pretty good, and I remember an article on it
saying that it needed a bit more cooking than spinach. Wish I could
find the article, it was a factual thing under a humorous guise about
how to combat kudzu. You may have helped in the battle.

pavane
 
On Tue, 01 Feb 2011 20:03:29 -0600, Janet Wilder
wrote:


Age? I don't cook fresh spinach enough to say any is hard and
rubbery, but there is definitely some that is thick and tougher if I'm
not paying attention to what I buy.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
Omelet wrote:


Here are a few tips. Pre-chop the stuff so that diners do
not need to chop it themselves. Then, sautee in hot olive oil
in a heavy (e.g. SS) pan. As they are going, add red vine
vinegar to wilt them, and a little salt. You greens now
be cooked down, righteous like.


S.
 
On 2/1/2011 8:03 PM, Janet Wilder wrote:

They let it get big before harvesting, sometimes leaf vegetables get
tough as they grow if they grow slowly. We've had to toss stuff in the
compost heap because of that. I've not found a way to cook it to make it
tasty yet.
 
Omelet wrote:

-snip-

Collards tough? I've only had them a few times as it is tough [no
pun intended] to find decent looking ones here except in the right
stores just before Thanksgiving.

But they weren't tough-- and cooking was easy. Chop up and toss into
a pot with a smoked turkey wing - and simmer for 3 hours or so.

First time I did it, I expected a pea-soup sort of thing. But they
hold their shape and texture. And one turkey wing will flavor up a
few pounds of collards and a quart and a half of water.

Jim
 
"Sqwertz" wrote in message news:[email protected]...
| On Tue, 1 Feb 2011 21:52:00 -0500, pavane wrote:
|
| > Janet, are you certain it was spinach and not kudzu?
|
| Is he still posting here?
|
| -sw

....only on Really Critical Issues.

pavane
 
On Wed, 2 Feb 2011 09:51:16 -0500, pavane wrote:


I surprised I remember the name. I haven't seen it for a long, long
time and Google doesn't many posts from .. it.

-sw
 
On Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:32:55 -0600, Omelet
wrote:


Collards are not tough picked when the leaf is about the size of a
hand. Anything much bigger goes into the compost heap.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974)
 
The Cook wrote:
-snip-

Hmm-- I'm going to try that. The one we can get in the market here -
only around thanksgiving- are about a foot wide and half again as
long.

I grew some last year and never thought to try them smaller.

Some critters liked them a lot and the ones I grew were no improvement
on the ones in the market-- just easier to find. I wasn't going
to do them again--- but back in they go.

Jim
 
On Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:32:55 -0600, Omelet
wrote:


Probably kelp! hehe


If your cut out the central rib they are no longer tough... in fact
the rib portion should be treated as a separate vegetable, good cooked
diced and buttered, excellent in soups
 
On 2/1/2011 8:59 PM, Janet wrote:
could have been. It wasn't the kind of spinach I am used to.

--
Janet Wilder
Way-the-heck-south Texas
Spelling doesn't count. Cooking does.
 
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