What are spinach?
Spinaches (Spinacia oleracea) are herbaceous plants belonging to the Chenopodiaceae family. They are very popular foods, which in nutrition are classified in the VI fundamental group (Vegetables and Fruits Sources of Vitamin A).
In cooking, spinach has many uses and is extremely versatile. These vegetables can be eaten raw in salads, boiled or stir-fried; they play the main role of side dish, but they are also part of many recipes of elaborate first and second courses. Some examples are: stuffing for ravioli (together with ricotta, parmesan and spices), coloring ingredient of pasta (classic green tagliatelle), stuffing of meat rolls or roasts (for example rolled veal with spinach and cheese racy).
On an industrial level, spinach also produces a dry flour called "spinach flour".
Nutritional role
Mineralizing, anti-anemic and nutritious, spinach was the ideal ingredient to create the myth of the magic potion swallowed by arm wrestling.
Their fame as highly "energetic" foods linked to the Popeye myth, as well as being the result of a transcription error in reporting the iron concentration in the earliest nutritional tables ("one zero too many" was added), was soon put also questioned by the discovery of oxalates; these are defined as antinutrient substances that severely limit the bioavailability of minerals (iron, calcium, magnesium) contained in green leafy vegetables.
