Spinach
For Chinese dietary therapy, Spinach (菠菜) is a food of Cool nature and Sweet flavor. A cool vegetable traditionally associated with moistening and the study of Blood.
Traditional energetics
- Nature
- Cool
- Flavor
- Sweet
- Affinity
- Liver · Stomach · Large Intestine
- Direction of Qi
- Cooling · moistens and descends
- Season
- Spring
- Group
- Vegetables
How tradition reads it
A cool vegetable traditionally associated with moistening and the study of Blood.
Briefly stir-fried with sesame or ginger to temper its coolness; Chinese folk cooking blanches spinach and avoids pairing it heavily with tofu because of its oxalates.
In the kitchen
Blanched, in soup, or briefly stir-fried.
Commonly available; no substitute needed.
Current nutrition note
Rich in lutein, folate and vitamin K; blanching reduces part of its oxalates.
Precautions
Contains oxalates; blanching reduces some, and caution applies with kidney stones.
Recipes with this food
Health notice. Educational and study content. It describes concepts of Traditional Chinese Medicine and does not replace diagnosis or treatment by a healthcare professional. Needling, medicinal herbs and invasive techniques must be applied by trained professionals. Safety guide.
