Spinach — season, tips, and recipes in New Zealand
Spinach is a vegetables available in New Zealand during March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, peaking in April, May, June, September, October. This page is a practical guide for home cooks: when to buy spinach, how to pick a good one, how to store it, what it goes well with, three original recipes, and detailed nutrition information.
Baby spinach bags are popular but whole bunches from farmers' markets have more flavour and cost less per gram.
How to pick a good one
Vibrant green, crisp, not wilted or slimy. Smaller leaves = salads, larger = cooking.
How to store it
Fridge in sealed container with paper towel. Use within 3-4 days.
Goes well with
garlic: Garlic's glutamates amplify spinach's mild savoury notes. Wilted spinach with garlic is the simplest preparation and one of the best.
lemon: Acid brightens spinach's iron-tinged flavour and also increases the body's ability to absorb the iron. Squeeze lemon on spinach and the dish is both tastier and more nutritious.
nutmeg: A small amount of nutmeg in creamed spinach is used in French and Italian cooking because nutmeg's warm, slightly sweet spice adds depth to spinach's green earthiness without overpowering it.
feta: Feta's salt and mild acidity balance spinach's slight earthiness and iron tinge. Used together in spanakopita and pastries across Mediterranean cooking.
egg: The fat in egg yolk carries spinach's fat-soluble nutrients -- vitamin A, K, and folate -- and makes them more bioavailable. Spinach and egg is a pairing that appears in every cuisine that has both.
Recipes
Creamed Spinach
Rich, simple, steak-house style.
Ingredients: 500g spinach, 2 tbsp butter, 1 clove garlic, 100ml cream, pinch nutmeg, salt
Method: Wilt spinach in butter with garlic. Add cream and nutmeg. Simmer 3 min until thick. Season.
Spinach & Feta Pie
Dinner or lunch. Good cold too.
Ingredients: 500g spinach (wilted squeezed), 200g feta, 3 eggs, 1 onion (diced cooked), 6 sheets filo, 50g melted butter
Method: Mix spinach, crumbled feta, eggs, onion. Layer filo in dish, brushing each with butter. Fill. Top with more filo layers. Brush top. Bake 180C for 35 min.
Saag Paneer
Indian classic. Weeknight friendly.
Ingredients: 500g spinach, 200g paneer (cubed), 1 onion, 2 cloves garlic, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp garam masala, 100ml cream
Method: Sweat onion, garlic, spices. Add spinach, wilt. Blend roughly. Add cream. Fry paneer separately until golden. Stir through.
Nutrition
100g of raw spinach provides 460% of your daily vitamin K, 94% of your vitamin A, 47% of your folate, and 15% of your iron. Only 23 calories. Contains more iron per calorie than steak. The iron is less bioavailable than meat iron, but squeeze lemon on it and absorption increases dramatically. One of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet.