But what really made the difference, say Bezart and others in the industry, was the technology to wash and pack fresh spinach without damaging the easily bruised leaves. Pre-washed spinach was a boon to busy cooks who didn't like the hassle of rinsing the dirt and grit from fresh spinach, but flat-leaf and baby spinach, in particular, needed gentle washing and quick cooling so they didn't turn slimy by the time they reached consumers.
"When the wash line improved, spinach improved," Bezart says.
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The Facts About Spinach
Who eats the most, men or women?
Women generally consume more spinach than men -- 2.53 pounds per capita annually, compared with 2.21 for men. Women eat more fresh and frozen spinach, while men eat more canned, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Who eats the least?
Teenagers. Total spinach per capita consumption was lowest for teens (under a pound a year), with teenage girls eating just half a pound -- the lowest among all age groups.
What's the geographical distribution of spinach eaters?
They love it in the West, but not as much in the Midwest.
According to the USDA, the Northeast and the West eat the most fresh spinach, while the South eats the most canned. The Midwest eats the least spinach in all categories.
How good for you is it?
One cup of spinach has 7 calories, but provides 56 percent of the daily recommended amounts of vitamin C, 14 percent of vitamin A and 5 percent of iron.
Who is Popeye?
The spinach hero is credited with spurring a 33 percent increase in spinach consumption, saving the spinach industry during the 1930s Depression, according to King Features. Popeye first appeared as a comic strip in 1929. In 1933, he made his way to cartoons, where he would eat a can of spinach to give him extra strength before a brawl.
-- Candy Sagon
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With increasing consumer demands for quality, some spinach now is washed and packed right in the field, says Daniel Sumner, director of the University of California's Agricultural Issues Center in Davis.
California currently supplies two-thirds of the country's fresh spinach (Arizona and Texas supply most of the rest) and has been at the forefront of fresh spinach marketing and technology. "We even get the elementary schools here to grow spinach," Sumner says. "You can talk about kids not liking spinach, but they like eating a salad of spinach they grew from seed."
Technology also is changing the demand for the traditional varieties of spinach. The three basic types are savoy, with crinkly, curly leaves, typically sold in fresh bunches; semi-savoy, which has slightly crinkled leaves that offer the crisp texture of savoy but are not as difficult to clean; and flat-leaf, which has smooth, spade-shaped leaves.
Because it is easiest to wash, flat-leaf spinach has become the dominant variety grown and sold on the West Coast. Bezart thinks that trend soon will spread across the country.
"I think you're going to see more flat-leaf spinach sold east of the Mississippi," she says. "There will still be consumers who prefer curly-leaf, but you'll see more turning to baby and flat-leaf spinach. We don't even see curly spinach in stores out here [in California] any more. It's all flat-leaf."
Making spinach easier to use has helped increase consumption, but consumers also know it's good for them, Sumner says. "The word's gotten out that spinach has important micronutrients," he says.
Recent research has found that spinach is packed with antioxidants, including beta carotene and lutein, which may promote eye health. Spinach is also an excellent source of vitamins A and C, plus minerals including folate, manganese and iron. Although Popeye didn't know it, some of the iron in cooked spinach is blocked by the production of oxalic acid that occurs during heating. To get the most of the iron in cooked spinach, nutritionists advise adding some vitamin C to your meal -- a squirt of lemon juice, or some oranges or strawberries for dessert -- to increase the amount of iron the body can absorb.
Spinach is not just popular with two-legged creatures, either. "The deer love it. They love that flavor. They eat it down to the ground," complains Ellen Polishuk, farm manager of Potomac Vegetable Farms in Purcellville, a 50-year-old organic farm that sells its vegetables at a farm stand in Vienna."I haven't been able to grow enough to sell."
With spinach's growing popularity, however, Polishuk is getting serious. "I'm just about to spend $10,000 in deer netting. Next year I hope to be a spinach grower, too."
