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Whoever heard of tree spinach?
Well, MAT COWARD did, and here’s his introduction to it
Tree spinach
[(L to R) Frank Vincentz/CC - Zoey Kroll/edibleoffice/CC - Zoey Kroll/edibleoffice/CC]
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I ALWAYS think Tree Spinach is a slightly off-putting common name for what is known botanically as Chenopodium giganteum. The mental image of a spinach plant the size of a tree really doesn't capture the essence of a quite delicate looking annual, with foliage in bright and almost playful green and magenta.
Admittedly, it can grow pretty tall — between 3 and 6 feet (1-2m) — though it is easily kept below that by removing the growing tip.
The “spinach” part of the name tells you that it has edible leaves, the word spinach being in this context a general rather than specific term. The older leaves can indeed be used as cooked greens; they’re OK, nothing special.
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