Seasons/Availability
Late winter through spring. Usually found at farmers markets.
Description/Taste
Red spinach leaves are round, thick, and rich green with an bright red coloring along the central stem area. Red spinach has a sweet, green flavor and delicate texture very similar to standard spinach.
Nutritional Value
Very low in calories, fresh spinach is a good source of vitamin C, vitamin A, plus iron and other essential minerals.
Applications
Red spinach can be eaten fresh or cook and stands up well to wilting and sauteing. Use as a salad leaf or as a dark, leafy green. Pair with spring vegetables, citrus, berries, eggs, nuts, bacon, pasta, and fresh cheeses. Flavor with Indian or Middle Eastern spices, creams, ginger, garlic, shallots, chiles and soy. Red spinach will keep, dry and refrigerated, for one to two weeks.
Ethnic/Cultural Info
Most seed suppliers classify spinach varieties by the appearance of their leaf types: flat and smooth leaves, leaves that are semi-savoyed (crinkled) or those that are heavily savoyed or somewhere in between.
Geography/History
Spinach, a cultivated plant of the genus Spinacia oleracea, is native to, or close to, Persia. Cultivation later moved to Spain with the invading Moors around 1100-1200 A.D. Preferring cool temperatures, sandy soil and some dryness, spinach grows well in California and Texas. Spinach is a cool season crop and belongs to the goosefoot family, Chenopodiaceae, along with beets and Swiss chard.
Benefits of Red Spinach
Red Spinach plant part used is the leaves and roots. For treatment, red amaranth is considered more nutritious than spinach green.
Indications:
Spinach leaves is used for the treatment of: cleaning the blood after the birth, strengthens hair roots, low blood pressure, kurangdarah (anemia), and renal failure.
HOW TO USE
For drugs taken, provide 25-30 g of fresh leaves, then boiled and eaten as lalap. Besides boiling, spinach can also be blended to be drunk.
For external use only, minced fresh spinach leaves until smooth, then stick to the wounds of venomous animal bites.
Less blood
Wash the spinach leaves three red cell, then mashed until smooth. Add one tablespoon of lemon juice, then strain. Next, add one tablespoon of honey and a chicken egg yolk and stir until blended, then this potion and drink processing> 7atan done once a day for a week. Furthermore, treatment can be conducted twice a week until the disease cured.
Dysentery
Wash the roots of 10 stems of red spinach thoroughly, then mash until smooth. Add salt teaspoon fine tip of a flat, stirring frequently, then strain. For treatment, drinking water filter at once.
Strengthen hair roots
Wash a bunch of leaves and stems fresh spinach thoroughly, then mash until smooth. Add salt teaspoon fine tip of a flat, stirring frequently. Next, squeeze and strain, and drink at once. Do it 2-3 times a week.
