How to Store Spinach
Spinach is a delicious leafy vegetable from the soil. In this blog, we will discuss how to store spinach for a long time. This vegetable is available fresh, in pots, and of course the well-known frozen spinach from the freezer. But how can you store spinach now?
How to store spinach?
- Fresh spinach can be kept in the fridge for 3 days and in the freezer for 12 months.
- You can store cooked spinach in the fridge for 2 days and in the freezer for 3 months.
- An opened jar of spinach, refrigerate for 2 days.
- Frozen and thawed spinach, 2 days in the refrigerator.
Storing fresh spinach, storing cooked spinach, heating spinach after storing, and much more is covered in this blog.
Keep Fresh Spinach
Freshly packed spinach from the supermarket always has a best before date and must be kept cool. Keep this date in the first instance. Have you used up the bag and used some of it, and do you want to use the spinach again later? Look, smell, taste, and decide for yourself whether the spinach is still fresh. Is the bottom of the bag wet, damp or snotty? Throw away the spinach.
Looking, smelling and tasting also applies to the greengrocer’s spinach. You can also keep this spinach in the refrigerator and can usually be kept for 3 days. However, here too your senses are the determining factor.
Freeze Fresh Spinach
If you want to freeze fresh spinach, it is important to go through a number of steps. Placing the fresh leaves, bag and all, in the freezer is not an option.
Clean the spinach under the tap in a colander. Wash off the dirt and sand. Then let the spinach drain. Then (only) remove the thick stems from the leaves.
Blanch spinach
Place a large pan with plenty of water on the heat source and bring the water to a boil. Also, prepare another pan with cold water and ice cubes. Don’t have ice cubes? Then put the colander ready in the sink.
When the water boils, the spinach is put in the pan and we boil it for 2 minutes. Drain the spinach in the colander and then put it in the pan with cold water or rinse the spinach under the cold tap for a long time.
The above method is called blanching. By briefly depleting the spinach, any bacteria that may be present are killed and the cooking process is stopped again by rinsing with cold water.
Now we can put the spinach in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer. You can package them per portion and put them in the freezer.
You can keep the spinach for 12 months now, but I hope you eat it sooner! Now that we’ve covered fresh spinach, let’s go to the other questions about how to store spinach.
Store Boiled Spinach in the Refrigerator
You can store spinach after cooking. The cooked spinach must be cooled quickly and do not leave the cooked spinach out of the refrigerator for more than 2 hours.
Put the remaining spinach in a sealable container and place it in the back of the refrigerator. You can keep it like this for another 2 days.
Store Boiled Spinach in the Freezer
You can also freeze cooked spinach. Again, do this as soon as possible after cooking and no later than 2 hours after cooking.
Put this spinach in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer. You can then store cooked spinach in the freezer for another 3 months.
Reheat Spinach
There are a lot of stories about reheating spinach. Heating spinach increases the nitrate content in the spinach, which is harmful to humans.
Nitrate levels are quite low today. This is because the nutrients in the fertilizer that spinach is fed have also changed. So you can just heat up and eat the spinach. However, the nutrition center advises not to give warmed spinach to pregnant women and frail older people.
Keep Spinach From Jar
For spinach from pots, rules also apply regarding storage. The first advice that should be given for these products is the advice on the packaging. Here it is always indicated how long the (unopened) product can be kept. Usually, this is one year.
Spinach in a jar that has been opened can be kept closed in the refrigerator for another 2 days. Do you want to keep it in the freezer? Then put the spinach in a container and put it in the freezer. Now you can store the spinach for at least 3 months.
Preserve Thawed Spinach
For spinach from the freezer section of the supermarket, rules also apply regarding storage. The first advice that should be given for these products is the advice on the packaging. Here it is always indicated how long the non-thawed product can be kept. Usually, this is one year.
Frozen spinach that has been thawed can also be kept in the refrigerator for 2 days. But the best thing to do with frozen spinach is to remove the correct number of cubes from the packaging and put the rest back in the freezer. That way everything stays fresh.
When you want to use this frozen or chilled spinach again, you have to use your senses. See if it still looks fresh. Smell if it is still fresh and as a final taste if it still tastes good. If in doubt, throw it away.
