| Spinacia oleracea |
family |
Beta vulgaris var esculenta |
| espinacs (Catalan) |
CHENOPODIACEAE |
bleda (Catalan) |
| spanáki (Greek) |
|
pantzarófilla (Greek) |
Spinach appears in Italian markets in its first youth as the plant entire with bright green shiny little leaves and a rosy blush where the leaves join the severed root. Spinach beet, more massive, is sometimes sold as the plant entire, and sometimes as a bunch of lustrous green leaves, their thick white stems bound together.