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No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:16 AM   #1
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No spinach, so what are we eating?

I am not much of a lettuce fan and generally the main ingredient in our salads was spinach. We love fresh spinach and ate quite a bit of it. Since spinach went off the market, we have been buying these greens:

[img width=750 height=562]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y73/martham/salad.jpg[/img]

What are they? The box doesn't say. The one on the upper right sure looks a lot like spinach and tastes a lot like spinach. The leaf is a bit thicker than most spinach, but some varieties of spinach have fairly thick leaves. The taste is pretty good, but some are more bitter than I prefer.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:19 AM   #2
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Martha

What are they?
Weeds. Taste like it, too.

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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:20 AM   #3
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Martha
What are they? The box doesn't say. The one on the upper left sure looks a lot like spinach and tastes a lot like spinach. The leaf is a bit thicker than most spinach, but some varieties of spinach have fairly thick leaves. The taste is pretty good, but some are more bitter than I prefer.
The one on the lower right looks like regular ol' green lettuce.

The leaf is the right color and general layout but it looks pretty stunted. I guess it's what they sweep up off the floor & bag when they've finished processing the heads of the regular-sized leaves.

Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo!
Weeds. Taste like it, too.
I know how you learned that.

We were packing up a huge volume of yard waste one day when spouse exclaimed in frustration "If we could only eat this stuff!" Of course never would have thought of that on my own, but once the hypothesis was proposed I couldn't resist the research...
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:26 AM   #4
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

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Originally Posted by REWahoo!
Weeds. Taste like it, too.

Yeah. Greg calls it "sidewalk salad" as the greens look a lot like what grows between the cracks of a sidewalk.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:32 AM   #5
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

On a more serious note, Wikipedia says this about "spring greens":

The term is also used more loosely to refer to thinnings and trimmed-off leaves of other types of Brassica, including turnip and swede leaves, surplus thinned out young cabbage plants and leaves from cauliflower and brussels sprouts.

From my foggy recollection from the 60's when I spent 3 years working as a Safeway produce clerk during college, I would agree. The red leaf is almost certainly cabbage, and the green leaf with red stem looks like a turnip leaf.

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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:36 AM   #6
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

There were actually some cabbage leaves in there. I didn't include it in the picture. The red leaf pictured is very thin and not like cabbage. I really want to know what that disgusting wrinkly yellow leaf is.

And yeah, "spring greens." Really.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:43 AM   #7
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

That yellow stuff reminds me of something that grows at the bottom of the sea. I've been buying Romaine, washing and chopping it myself.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:46 AM   #8
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Ill play it safe, ill stick to cranberries, artificial sweetner and tuna with mercury.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 10:16 AM   #9
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Good on the turnip leaf Wahoo. The other possibility may new beet greens. They also have the red stem.

I think the top left leaf may be arugula.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 10:18 AM   #10
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Martha
I really want to know what that disgusting wrinkly yellow leaf is.
Baby endive or baby frizee lettuce? I'm not sure, but there are photos of all sorts of edible weeds here if your curiosity has the best of you:

http://www.evergreenherbs.com/

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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 10:20 AM   #11
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo!
Weeds. Taste like it, too.
I call it 'bird food.' Our birds can't get enough . But DW cleans the cage.

We went to a Vietnamese eatery many years ago and had some sort of salad with noodles, that fish oil special sauce, and 'weeds' with a little pork or 'meat product.' DW loves it, so I started making it at home (to save money). While I prepare, she goes outside and gathers stuff to be chopped and added. Don't know what it is, don't want to. . . . I now try to make it mostly in the winter.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 10:33 AM   #12
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Apocalypse
We went to a Vietnamese eatery many years ago and had some sort of salad with noodles, that fish oil special sauce, and 'weeds' with a little pork or 'meat product.'
Reminds me of my early days in the military. While attending a year-long training course, DW and I lived in a 4-plex above a GI and his Vietnamese wife. Very nice people, but every few weeks she would cook something so odiferous it would water our eyes and peel the paint from our apartment walls! We had to eat out and take in a movie to let the place air out before we could return.

On the positive side, we had no problems with mice or roaches...

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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 10:44 AM   #13
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Top left might be Arugula and the red one looks like the ends of red leaf lettuce.

At the Horticulture center where I volunteer, we planted a winter garden which included a bunch of lettuces among other vegetables. We planted a Mesclun mix which has about 6 varieties of lettuce. Here's a link to a site where we buy some of our seeds. They have a LOT of lettuces and maybe the pictures will help you ID them. I had no idea there were so many varieties....until I had to pick which ones to plant.

http://tinyurl.com/mj36d
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 11:25 AM   #14
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

Quote:
Originally Posted by KB
the red one looks like the ends of red leaf lettuce.
Yeah, I was wondering about that. From what I've seen in the grocery store I think so too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo!
, DW and I lived in a 4-plex above a GI and his Vietnamese wife. Very nice people, but every few weeks she would cook something so odiferous it would water our eyes and peel the paint from our apartment walls!
Mmmm, fish paste! Also known as "not for Americans".

I've acquired a taste for kim chee and I think I'm going to have to experiment with fish paste someday. Especially if I can smear wasabi all over it.

Quote:
Originally Posted by REWahoo!
On the positive side, we had no problems with mice or roaches...
[Insert typical Asian cat-cuisine & cockroach jokes here.]
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-08-2006, 09:22 PM   #15
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

It's spreading...to ground beef http://www.news-medical.net/?id=20447

...and lettuce http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansas...n/15712278.htm

Damn, no hamburgers.
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?
Old 10-09-2006, 04:05 PM   #16
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Re: No spinach, so what are we eating?

The alternative is to buy locally, if you can. Better yet grow your own. I still eat spinich, by the bunch at my local Safeway. Or I buy from Whole Foods.
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