Spinach, (Spinacia oleracea), hardy leafy annual of the amaranth family (Amaranthaceae), used as a vegetable. Widely grown in northern Europe and the United States, spinach is marketed fresh, canned, and frozen. Young leaves are commonly sold as “baby spinach.” It received considerable impetus as a crop in the 1920s, when attention was first called to its high content of iron and vitamins A and C. Spinach is served as a salad green and as a cooked vegetable. Spinach leaves contain oxalates, which are associated with the formation of kidney stones if consumed in excess over time; steaming or boiling spinach can reduce the oxalate levels.
Spinach is a "NUTRITION MODEL STUDENT", because of its HIGH PROTEIN, VITAMIN, CAROTENE, IRON AND other NUTRIENTS CONTAINT. Its leaves contain CHROMIUM and a kind of insulin substance, can make the human blood glucose TO maintain stability, has the effect of food therapy. Spinach is one of the most widely used green elements in cooking, and the ancient Arabs once listed it as the "king of vegetables".