University of California
News & Information Outreach
Eat your leafy reds--One day you will be able to do this
Is that a beautiful plant or what? What it is is a new RED spinach developed and released by the USDA Agricultural Service. The spinach the first true red and is called USDA Red.
USDA Red is supposed to be good for fresh baby leaves, freezing and canning use. It has an even higher nutritional content than green spinach, containing betacyanin which is an even more potent anti-oxidant than anthocyanin. What a nice looking addition to a salad or pot of greens. And if you garden to add to your freezer or canning cupboard, this would be a colorful bonus.
Beauty and nutrition; a double home run. I wish I could grow some now to see how it tastes!
Comments:
2.
I hope it is available soon also. I will try to remember to post here if I find a seller of the seed or leaf.
3.
FROM DARRELL FLUMAN:
The trouble with spinach is the relatively high levels of oxalic acid as oxylates which tie up calcium and iron.
Collards provide a much greater usable portion of these two nutrients. Almost 10 times more.
From Wikipedia.com:
"Spinach, along with other green, leafy vegetables, contains an appreciable amount of iron attaining 21% of the Daily Value in a 100 g (3.5 oz) amount of raw spinach. For example, the United States Department of Agriculture states that a 100 g (3.5 oz) serving of cooked spinach contains 3.57 mg of iron, whereas a 100 g (3.5 oz) ground hamburger patty contains 1.93 mg of iron. However, spinach contains iron absorption-inhibiting substances, including high levels of oxalate, which can bind to the iron to form ferrous oxalate and render much of the iron in spinach unusable by the body. In addition to preventing absorption and use, high levels of oxalates remove iron from the body.
"Calcium
"Spinach also has a moderate calcium content which can be affected by oxalates, decreasing its absorption. The calcium in spinach is among the least bioavailable of food calcium sources. By way of comparison, the human body can absorb about half of the calcium present in broccoli, yet only around 5% of the calcium in spinach."
You won’t cure world hunger with spinach, red or green.
--Darrell Fluman
4.
Darrel Fluman tells me that his post below was blocked by the system and he was told he had sent too much spam--NOT TRUE! If anyone else has had this problem, please let me know, OK?
Thank you, --Lauria Watts
Thank you, --Lauria Watts
Posted by Leslie Osburn on January 17, 2020 at 10:39 AM