Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Dish: Muscle up

Spinach, Popeye's secret weapon, is regaining popularity, although in the fresh - not canned - variety.

By JANET KEELER from staff and wire reports
Published April 13, 2005

	[Times photo: Stefanie Boyar]
	Fresh spinach

We've become a nation of Popeyes, eating five times more fresh spinach today than we did in the 1970s. We're eating the most spinach since the 1950s, when parents urged their kids to eat spinach to be strong, just like the animated cartoon sailor.

But give it to us fresh because we've all but abandoned the stuff in the can, even though that's what Popeye ate.

Why spinach? Why now?

The growth has been fueled by triple-washed bagged spinach and an increased interest, and availability, of baby spinach. Baby spinach is the young, tender leaves of flat-leaf spinach.

What's so good about it?

One cup of spinach has 7 calories, but provides 56 percent of the daily recommended amounts of vitamin C, 14 percent of vitamin A and 5 percent of iron.

Who ate it first?

Spinach originated in Persia (modern-day Iran), some 2,000 years ago. Spaniards brought it to America.

Historic significance?

Spinach was the first vegetable frozen and sold commercially, thanks to Clarence Birdseye who accomplished this feat in Springfield, Mass., in 1930.

How much to buy?

One pound of fresh spinach yields one cup cooked, just two servings. Yes, it wilts to nearly nothing when cooked.

Who eats the most?

Women generally consume more spinach than men - 2.53 pounds per capita annually, compared with 2.21 for men. Women eat more fresh and frozen spinach, while men eat more canned.

Who eats the least?

Teenagers. Total spinach per capita consumption was lowest for teens (under a pound a year), with teenage girls eating just half a pound - the lowest among all age groups.

Where do spinach eaters live?

They love it in the West, but not as much in the Midwest. The Northeast and the West eat the most fresh spinach, while the South eats the most canned. The Midwest eats the least spinach in all categories.

How to eat it?

Eat it fresh in salads (especially with fruity dressings) or use as you would lettuce in a salad. It can be served simply as a side dish or featured prominently in soups, casseroles, dips, quiches and appetizers.

Who is Popeye?

The spinach-eating sailor is credited with spurring a 33 percent increase in spinach consumption, saving the spinach industry during the 1930s Depression. Popeye first appeared as a comic strip in 1929. In 1933, he made his way to cartoons, where he would eat a can of spinach to give him extra strength before a brawl.

Do you have a recipe that tastes like a million bucks? If so, the deadline is May 31 to enter it in the 42nd annual Pillsbury Bake-Off to be held March 18-21 at the Fontainebleau Resort in Miami. More than $1.3-million in cash prizes will be awarded.

Recipes must be original and are extensively screened by Pillsbury home economists. Categories for next year's competition are Cooking for Two, Brand New You (healthy recipes), Dinner Made Easy, Weekends Made Special, Wake Up to Breakfasts and Simple Snacks.

For more information, including a list of eligible products, go to www.pillsbury.com/bakeoff To receive an entry form by mail, send your name and address to Pillsbury Bake-Off Entry Form Request, P.O. Box 7200, Melville, NY 11775-7200.

The massive, 1,000-plus recipe Gourmet Cookbook edited by Ruth Reichl (Houghton Mifflin, $40) is in its second printing with one noticeable improvement: Readable recipe titles. The book was published last fall and the folks at Gourmet cringed when they saw that the light yellow recipe titles could barely be seen in home lighting. Reviewers and readers complained, and editors promised to fix the problem. They have. The new titles are darker, nearly orange, and perfectly readable.

A surplus of diet food for the overweight has been a boon for the hungry in Appalachia. Once hot and trendy, low-carb Atkins diet foods that never got sold are being shipped to food banks. Since September, 14 truckloads of Atkins Nutritional bars, shakes and breakfast mixes have been sent to charities that hand out free food.

Industry estimates indicate the number of Americans following any low-carb diet peaked in February 2004 and has fallen dramatically since then.

www.earthdinner.org

For a new twist on Earth Day (April 22), an organic food company is suggesting throwing an Earth Dinner. Here's the pitch: Invite friends or family for a potluck, and ask them to cook a favorite family recipe, preferably made with fresh, local ingredients.

Download a pack of Earth Dinner cards from the Web site and use them as conversation starters. From food haiku to stories about pass-along recipes, they're designed to get you thinking about the sources of the food you eat.

Quick tomato sauces made from canned tomatoes often lack the intensity of long-simmered ones. Try cooking them in a skillet instead of a saucepan, and they will boil down faster, which helps to concentrate the flavor. Add diced or chopped sun-dried tomatoes, with their bold, sweet and acidic taste, to really punch up a sauce. Another simple trick is to leave the sauce covered, off the heat, while you cook the pasta, allowing the flavors to come together wonderfully.

[Last modified April 12, 2005, 12:51:04]