Spinach

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.