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The red and the green of first harvest

Spinach and rhubarb make the perfect dining couple

Never mind Popeye the Sailorman's habit of famously popping the entire contents of a can of spinach down his gullet to pump up his biceps and down his personal "fight club" nemesis, Bluto. You, too, can grow strong on a fresh spinach habit this spring without planting a single seed as the first of the fresh local greens turns up at stores and market gardens.

Spinach is a delightfully tasty and versatile biennial. A member of the beet family, it was originally cultivated in central Asia - Persia, says Larousse Gastronomique . In the late Middle Ages, Arabs brought it to Europe where it was soon preferred over its smaller-leafed relatives, such as lamb's-quarters and orache - arrache to the French - both of which have now naturalized in B.C. (more on those later). Chard is another distant relative.

Just to confuse everyone, scores of edible imposters not related to spinach bear the same name. Malabar spinach is a climbing plant native to Asia and very heat tolerant. Water spinach, another Asian native, is a relative of the sweet potato. New Zealand spinach is actually related to the succulent known as ice plant, which is also edible - a fact that might come in handy at the end of the world if you're stranded on a beach and starving.

But since we still have oodles of farms producing spinach, you won't need to resort to ice plants. Plus you'll find the former a much better choice for a dish like the classic French spinach salad, which Larousse describes this way: Plunge the whole spinach into boiling water for a few seconds only. Cool under running water, drain and dry in a cloth. Place the leaves in a salad bowl and sprinkle with coarsely chopped hard-boiled egg and dress with oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. C'est tout!

Southern California restaurants dish up a twist on this: a wilted spinach salad in which fried bacon bits, still in their hot oil, are tossed into a bed of freshly washed spinach and thinly sliced sweet onions. Add vinegar and seasoning to taste.

In On Food and Cooking , Harold McGee tells us that French classic cuisine likens spinach to cire-vierge, or virgin beeswax, because it's capable of receiving any impression or effect compared to most other vegetables, which impose their taste upon the dish.

In terms of nutrition, especially when it's farm-fresh, spinach is hard to beat. Why do you think Popeye could pop a guy three times his size? According to McGee, it's an excellent source of Vitamin A, and phenolic antioxidants and compounds that reduce potential cancer-causing damage to our DNA.

Given it doesn't like heat, most growers go at spinach in spring, like Mary's Garden in Surrey, or fall, like North Arm Farm in Pemberton will do this year. Others, like Helmer's Organic Farm, also in Pemberton, simply find a variety that doesn't bolt when it gets hot.

The variety they're growing right now is Samish - "fast growing, deeply coloured, fully savoyed (wrinkly) and winter hardy." It also tastes really good. Jennie Helmer is using the young leaves in her great organic salad mix, available at Pemberton Valley Supermarket. Plus Helmer's Organic Farm (604-894-6618) will have fresh spinach at the Pemberton and Whistler farmers' markets this summer.

One of my favourites right now is the Tyee spinach they've got at Mary's Garden on 40th Ave. in Surrey (604-576-9297) - a tender leaf that's relatively flat and oh, so tender, and a beautiful spring green colour. Perfect for salads or cooking, it's the epitome of that "virgin beeswax" metaphor.

The leaves do darken as soil conditions get drier, explains Ken Nootebos who, with his brother Mike, runs the farm and stand his mom started back in 1966. Despite a wet, cold spring that often felt like winter, the plants are doing fine now. If anything, the moisture level is a bit low. Like most veggie crops  - including a lot of native plants - they do their best with about 60 percent moisture content in the soil.

"By coincidence we've had three or four people out on the farm picking lamb's-quarters this past week or so. It's way healthier than spinach," says Ken.  Originally from Eurasia, but now naturalized in most of North America, lamb's-quarters likes moist, saline conditions like salt marshes and disturbed soil like that you'll find on the edges of farms. So why pay $3 a bundle for it at Granville Market?

The Nootebos's don't spray, but make sure you ask your favourite farmer before picking, just in case. The farm visitors were also picking pigweed, or purslane (Portulaca oleracea), another European native that's spread around the world. Named by William Corbett, an Englishman in the 19th century who said it was only fit for pigs and the French - quelle horreur! - it's noted for its calcium, vitamins and linolenic acid, one of the omega-3 fatty acids.

Orache, another European gone native and a true relative of spinach, is also wild for the picking in our neck of the woods. Again, it prefers tidal marshes and saline soils. One of the best known edible wild greens in the world, you can use it as you would spinach - in lasagna, a soufflé, or for eggs Florentine.

Marika Richoz has a great recipe for the latter on her fun blog site ediblediaries.blogspot.com/. If you're up for an easy but tasty variation, try these Cheatin' Eggs Florentine for two that I came up with: In a large skillet with high walls, gently cook a handful of thinly sliced onion in olive oil. When they're translucent, fill the pan with well-washed leaves, spinach or otherwise. Salt it and toss on a lid. When the spinach is wilted to about half the original volume, break three or four good farm eggs on the spinach, cover and cook about three minutes, or until the yolks are just done. Salt and pepper your eggs and grate your favourite cheese on top. Yum.

SPOT OF RHUBARB RED

To complement your fresh green spinach with red, go for some fresh local rhubarb. Originally brought from northern Asia to Europe in the 14th century, rhubarb was first cultivated by monks as a medicinal plant.

But you can enjoy a tasty rhubarb pie or crisp. North Arm Farm in Pemberton (604-894-5379) has a variety called Valentine that Jordan and Trish Sturdy got from an "ancient" farmer out in Abbotsford - killer rhubarb, says Jordan. As the name might have tipped you off, it's known for its deep red colour, plus it's less acidic than most varieties.

Roxy Kuurne, at Kuurne Farms at the end of the pavement in Pemberton Meadows, has some nice Crimson rhubarb - bright red to the end of the stems. Phone ahead (604-894-6359) if you want to pick it up at the farm or if you want some delivered locally. Available until early July.

Glenda Bartosh is an award-winning freelance writer who's never opened a can of spinach.