Spinach
Spinach is a super food!
The various health benefits of spinach are due to the presence of minerals, vitamins, pigments, and phytonutrients, including potassium, zinc, magnesium, iron, and calcium. According to USDA National Nutrient Database, the green leafy vegetable is a source of vitamins like folate, niacin, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, and contains traces of the rest of the essential vitamins. Other important elements, including thiamine and riboflavin, which are used in various reactions in our body, are also found spinach.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), a 100-gram serving of spinach contains 28.1 micrograms of vitamin C, 34 percent of the daily recommendation.
How to Buy
Buy organic spinach!
Federal data shows that conventionally grown spinach has more pesticide residues by weight than all other produce tested, with three-fourths of samples tested contaminated with a neurotoxic bug killer that is banned from use on food crops in Europe.
Four pesticides – one insecticide and three fungicides – were responsible for the bulk of the residues detected on spinach.
Seventy-six percent of the samples contained residues of permethrin, a neurotoxic insecticide. At high doses, permethrin overwhelms the nervous system and causes tremors and seizures. Besides its use as a pesticide, permethrin is also used to kill head lice and is embedded in mosquito-repellent fabrics. The Environmental Protection Agency is currently assessing the health risks of permethrin and related pesticides on food. EWG wrote to the EPA urging it to consider potential risks to children’s brain development. Since 2000, Europe has not permitted any permethrin to be used on food crops.
How to Store
Wash spinach thoroughly. California tests of unwashed spinach found higher concentrations of pesticides. The USDA washed all of the spinach samples vigorously before testing. The USDA has also detected pesticides on frozen and canned spinach, suggesting that washing and cooking reduces pesticide levels but does not eliminate them.
How to Cook
Spinach can be eaten raw as a part of many salads, and it can also be cooked or sautéed down into a reduced form. This can be eaten as a side dish vegetable or added in a number of recipes for soups, stews, and casseroles. It is native to the Middle East and was cultivated in Persia thousands of years ago. From there, it was brought into China, approximately 1,500 years ago. It made its way into Europe a few hundred years later and quickly became a staple in a number of cultural cuisines.