Using Fresh Spinach

[Bella S.F.]

I never know when it is going to be silly question...

When a recipe calls for say 2 bunches of fresh spinach, stems removed, is it O.K. to use the baby spicnach leaves that come bagged, without all of the grit that you get with fresh bunches of spinach? I am talking about recipes where you are going to cook the spinach first. Does it seem to make a difference? (Why don't they just say __oz. of fresh spinach?) The bagged spinach is just so much easier.

Thanks!

[heidih]

In terms of quantity I think the bags are around the same volume. My feeling however, is that the bagged baby spinach definately has a less pronounced flavor than more mature spinach. For salad or other raw purposes that is not an issue, but if you are using it in a cooked prep you will lose out on flavor.

[nduran]

If you can manage to get the bagged stuff on the day it's delivered it's often perfectly acceptable. Since this doesn't tend to happen with any degree of regularity, it's more often completely unacceptable for anything other than chemistry experiments involving chlorophyl extraction.

[Anna N]

In terms of quantity I think the bags are around the same volume. My feeling however, is that the bagged baby spinach definately has a less pronounced flavor than more mature spinach.  For salad or other raw purposes that is not an issue, but if you are using it in a cooked prep you will lose out on flavor.

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I totally agree here. The baby spinach is lovely raw but lacks the "bite" of mature spinach and just doesn't hold up to cooking.