Cocktails with Baby spinach
Baby spinach is the young, immature leaves of spinach (Spinacia oleracea), a leafy green vegetable of the amaranth family, harvested before full maturity.
Taste profile
Mild and grassy, with a faint vegetal astringency and little sweetness or acidity.
How it's used
A few leaves muddled or blended add a faint green vegetal note and green colour rather than any strength or acidity; whole leaves also serve as a garnish. It is a minor accent, never a structural base.
Substitutes for Baby spinach
Other tender mild greens or vegetal purees that preserve the grassy character and green pigment rather than any flavour intensity.
Description
Picked young and cooled immediately after harvest, the tender leaves are sold fresh and eaten either raw or cooked. Spinach leaves carry a high oxalate content that contributes an astringent edge, reducible by blanching or steaming.
Storage
Highly perishable; refrigerate and use within a few days, as the leaves wilt and degrade quickly.
