Farmer Lee Jones loves spinach! He adores the farm-fresh flavor, the plant’s robust texture, its amazing amounts of nutrients, and its ability to grow in cool weather—which makes spinach the perfect embodiment of one of Farmer Lee’s favorite sayings: that we’re growing vegetables slowly and gently in full accord with nature.
Just between you and us, though, Farmer Lee loves this vegetable so much that we sometimes have a bit of trouble tracking him down during the spinach season. He even talks with the spinach!
Think we’re kidding? Watch this short video!
All kidding aside, we think your diners will love our spinach, too. And, thanks to our use of cold frames, as fall transitions into winter, the sugar content of our spinach will continue to rise. Think about vintners using frozen grapes to make incredible ice wine—and that’s the same concept that we use when we grow our ice spinach.
Ice spinach freezes at night and thaws in the day, continuing to bring sugar levels up to the point that brix readings are as high as those of an apple.
As Bob Jones, Jr. explains it, spinach leaves are little solar receptors that capture sunlight through photosynthesis. This light energy is converted to chemical energy—and, while we won’t get into all of the technical details here, the result is natural sugar. In fact, if you look at the root of a bunch of our ice spinach, it’s even turning pink because of the concentration of natural sugars near the soil line.
Our ice spinach is a deep, rich green in hue with leaves that are full of life and energy—and of vigor and vitality.
And, oh. Mum’s the word, but Bob explained what the talking-like sound is with the spinach that Lee is holding. It comes from the cell walls’ integrity and amount of calcium—which translates into an incredible shelf life for you and your restaurants.
Ready for farm-fresh spinach on your winter menus? Just let your product specialist know!