Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Popeye Sour cocktail, inspired by National Spinach Day, and the most famous spinach lover in history, Popeye the Sailor!
Origin Of Spinach Plants
National Spinach Day is March 26, a time to celebrate one of the most popular tender leafy greens in the U.S., and what better place to explore the history of spinach than Crystal City, Texas - the spinach capital of the world. When most cities were falling on hard times during the Depression, Crystal City had a booming spinach industry.
During that severe economic downturn, spinach was an affordable, nutrient-dense food. Driven by its low cost & perceived health benefits, the popularity of spinach surged by 33% between 1931 and 1936. It was further boosted by the popularity of comic, and later cartoon character Popeye, who would eat the vegetable to gain super strength.
Popeye the Sailor Man, introduced to the world by cartoonist E.C. Segar in 1929, as a minor character, rapidly becoming a main character, and moving from newspapers to the silver screen in less than a decade.
Thanks to the help Popeye gave the spinach industry, Crystal City, Texas erected a statue of him in 1937
Spinach’s Worldwide History
Spinach sales have continued to rise in the U.S. following the 1930’s Depression, reaching an all-time high in 2007. That’s not surprising considering spinach has been a part of the human culinary experience for over 2,000 years.
Botanists place the origin of the spinach in and around ancient Persia (modern day Iran), where it was likely cultivated from Spinacia tetranda, an edible wild green. It is believed spinach was then introduced into India and Nepal.
Written records indicate spinach reached China from Nepal in the year 647 CE. Here this much beloved vegetable earned the name “Persian Green.”
It’s believed Muslims introduced spinach to Sicily in 827 CE. Written documentation places spinach in the Mediterranean area by the 10th century.
The Moors from North Africa are credited with bringing spinach to Spain in the 11th century, and this leafy green reached Germany by the late 1200’s.
During the European Middle Ages (roughly 476 CE-1500 CE), spinach was widely cultivated and distributed throughout the continent. The use of spinach as a staple in Mediterranean cooking became widespread during the 1400’s. In England, spinach was called the “Spanish vegetable” and was valued as an early spring crop.
In the 1500’s, Catherine de Medici is credited with the culinary term “a la Florentine,” after bringing her Italian cooks with her when she married into the French royal family. The term refers to French spinach dishes created in honor of this Florence native.
Spinach reached the Americas with the first New World settlers in the 1600s, though American cultivation didn’t become established until the early 1800s
In the early part of the 20th century, disease-resistant and slow-bolting spinach varieties were developed. The well-known and much beloved Bloomsdale Long Standing spinach variety came from that era.
Today, spinach is grown worldwide. China, the U.S., and Japan are the leading spinach producing countries with over 20 million tons of this leafy green cultivated each year. No doubt, there’s plenty of spinach to go around. So grab a handful to add to your favorite salad or entree and celebrate National Spinach Day with this tasty, tender green!
NATIONAL SPINACH DAY ACTIVITIES
Try a new spinach dish
We’ve talked about a lot of different ways to enjoy spinach, but we bet you’ve only tried a couple of them. If you usually enjoy cooked spinach, make a spinach salad for your next meal. If you love you some raw-spinach-y goodness, try it cooked! It’s always nice to expand your palette, and to get a couple new recipes under your belt. You go, Master Chef.
Grow some spinach
If you have a green thumb, embark on a fun project and grow some spinach on your windowsill or your backyard. There are a couple bonuses to this plan. It will save you money, because you’re not buying spinach from the store. It will provide you with a challenge—keeping a plant alive is no walk in the park. And it will put you on the path to sustainability. Maybe you’ll grow a whole garden one day!
Watch or read Popeye
Open an old comic book or go troll Youtube for some old shows where Popeye was featured. Then, enjoy the tale of the salty sailor who has an on and off fling with Olive Oil! Everyone’s favorite spinach-eating hunk definitely deserves a little extra love this National Spinach Day. Do you think spinach would be as popular as it is now without him? We don’t.
Reasons To Love National Spinach Day
Spinach is healthy
Spinach is one of the healthiest vegetables, and it’s delicious to boot! It’s rich in water-soluble vitamins, fat-soluble vitamins, iron, calcium, cancer-fighting antioxidants, phytonutrients … we could go on, but we’d run out of space. When it’s raw, spinach is basically a super-food. And, although it loses some of its nutrients when it’s cooked, it still maintains enough of them to be incredibly healthy. A bit of spinach a day keeps the doctor away!
Spinach is adaptable
There are so many different, yet iconic ways to cook spinach. And they all go way beyond boiling it into mush like your mother. The classic unhealthy way to cook spinach is to boil it and add heavy cream – voila, creamed spinach! You can also use it completely raw to make a salad. Just add vinaigrette and craisins. Sprinkle some spinach leaves into your next stir-fry or add them into your homemade burrito for a quick calorie and nutrient boost. Spinach is useful, and delicious, in all of these different forms.
Spinach reduces like crazy
One of the world’s most amazing sights is how much spinach reduces in size when it’s cooked. Have you ever added an entire bag of baby spinach to a pan until it was overflowing? Have you questioned how you were going to add any of the other ingredients in your recipe? And then have you watched it reduce at least six times in size until it barely took up any space in the pan? Spinach constantly reminds us all of how amazing science is - and we love science.
Whatever your favorite reason to enjoy spinach - or even if you don’t think you like spinach - you should try today’s Drink Of The Day, the Popeye Sour cocktail. It’ll make ya feel strong!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink:
