Share Our Garden!: Fresh Spinach All Year Round

"Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can."

Danny Kaye

TODAY'S SEEDS OF WISDOM

JUST BLOOMED TODAY
GARDEN UPDATE
FRESH SPINACH ALL YEAR ROUND
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GARDEN GIGGLE
GARDEN GAMES
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JUST BLOOMED TODAY

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GARDEN UPDATE

Prrrretty cold here, in the 40's for most of the morning. Early afternoon, the sun braved the clouds and hung out for a little while.

We had some more damage with that last wind and had a section of fence blow down, with one of the posts cracking. <sigh> As Gilda Radner would say, "It's always something!".

FRESH SPINACH ALL YEAR ROUND

One thing I dearly love is fresh spinach! Do you have the same problem I had where you just can't eat it fast enough and it goes bad in the back of your fridge? Here's my secret to having fresh spinach all year round.

I buy fresh spinach and I usually buy baby spinach. The leaves are smaller and more full of flavor. I wash them thoroughly in a colander and then let them drain to get rid of the water. Then I place cookie drying racks on my counter in an undisturbed place. I put the spinach on them, arranged so that it is a single layer as much as possible. Then simply air dry them for about a week. When they are crispy and flake completely when you crush one, they are ready. If they are even a little bit pliable, there is still liquid in there and they aren't completely dry.

Once they are done, store them in a dry, airtight container. You can sprinkle these into anything, the possibilities are endless. They reconstitute once they come in contact with liquid. A bag of fresh spinach is about a dollar and the resulting dried flakes will last for months.

GARDEN GIGGLE