The Field Guideby Moss & MarrowThe Field Guideby Moss & Marrow
In the Netherlands, spinach is in season April to October, at its best in April, May, September and October. November is outside the Dutch season for spinach.
Spinach bolts in heat, so Dutch growers sow it for spring and again for autumn; the summer crop is lighter. Most of the year it comes from the open field.
Dutch field spinach has dark, thick leaves and some soil in the bunch. Baby spinach in bags is often grown under glass.
Folate, vitamin K, beta-carotene, iron and magnesium. Also high in oxalate, which binds some of its iron and calcium.
To get the most: Lightly cooked spinach gives up more beta-carotene and iron than raw; a squeeze of lemon or a tomato with it helps the iron along. Do not pour away the cooking water for soups.
On our nutrient density chart, a normal serving of cooked spinach (150 g) gives 8 times a day's vitamin K and more than a day's vitamin A, counting what your body absorbs. Its oxalate binds much of the calcium and iron, and the score counts that. That puts it in the top 5% of the 244 foods we scored.
Content per NEVO, the Dutch food composition database. This describes what the food contains, not what it does for you.
Wash twice; wilt in a dry pan with the water that clings to the leaves. Mature leaves take a minute longer and carry more flavour.
Stalks cook fine with the leaves; chop them a little smaller. Older, larger leaves are for cooking rather than salad.
15 producers in The Field Guide sell spinach, according to their own website or shop list, each checked against our inclusion criteria and listed by province. Another 163 growers passed our bar for this food group; we have not yet recorded what each of them grows, so ask them or search the map.
Open on the map →Dates read on 2026-10-11. If a window on this page is wrong, tell us with a source.
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