- 02
- Sep
While I was eating today, I was watching ‘Ready Steady Cook‘ on the BBC. During their 10 minutes session they create absolutely astonishing meals, the cooks also answered a question from a viewer. A Dutch viewer. She stated that as everyone knows one should never reheat spinach, but she asked whether it was ok to reheat spinach soup?
Paul Rankin, Antony Worrall Thompson, and Ainsley Harriott were all three very surprised by the statement that one should never reheat spinach. They have never heard such a nonsense.
This was very surprising to me. To never reaheat spinach is such a well-known fact here that is passed from generation to generation (’kids, whatever you do, do not ever try to reheat spinach’). Even I knew it. You even can get cancer from it. But three well respected chefs won’t be wrong, right?
So, after the show I googled a bit. Apparently, since the beginning of 2005 we are allowed again to reheat spinach. It isn’t dangerous (anymore :)). So, the chefs knew it better than all the Dutch people.
But then there is the question why all the Dutch people thought for ages that one should never reheat spinach, and the elite of the British cooks have never heard of such a story. And not only they, googling for ‘reheating spinach’ doesn’t give any warning about all the dangers at all (and googling for it in dutch gives you at least 5 serious warnings in the first 10 hits…).
2005-09-15 at 6.55 pm
Agreed, I learned to never reheat spinach when I was little. However I have done it occasionally and I’m still alive ;)
2005-11-02 at 5.13 pm
I have lived in Holland for many years and only heard about not reheating spinach a few days ago, I checked the web and as was said before, only the Dutch seem to have any problems. It has something to do with nitrates changing into nitrites which hinder the oxygenation of the blood. What I want to know is, who is right!! The Dutch web sites are very professional, try googling “spinazie opwarmen”. They can’t have been mistaken for generations. Or can they ???
2005-11-02 at 9.17 pm
so much for not showing email address
2005-11-02 at 10.48 pm
Why wouldn’t it be possible that they only discovered it that reheating is less dangerous than always believed?
The same holds for, for example, the myth that you’d get strong from spinach (Popeye was a complete animation series based on that myth), only to discover recently that in the calculations they made a mistake and that their result was a factor 10 of.
Or, the fact that eating an apple is quite bad for your teeth? The saying ’snoep gezond, eet een appel’ (Snack healthy, eat an apple) is thus plain wrong.
BTW: what do you mean by “so much for not showing email address”?
2005-11-03 at 10.00 am
David, I apologize I thought that the whole world and his mother could see my address as everytime I logged onto your site there I was again. I phoned an expat friend of mine, who by the way, had never heard of the reheating spinach problem either, she checked and when she logged on no address in the ‘leave a comment’ So once again, I am sorry!!!!
2005-11-15 at 5.31 pm
Dear David, Re. reheated spinach. The old wives tale about not reheating spinach is only partially true. Yes you can reheat it ONCE but not more if you want to stay healthy. As mentioned before the high bacteria count in spinach turns the nitrate in it to nitrite which is a cause of cancer. So you won’t drop dead on the spot but doing it repeatedly during your life is a dangerous thing to do. Spinach is healthy and good for you so cook it and put any leftovers in the fridge right away. Eat at the latest the day after. Leftover spinach that can’t be eaten the day after should be frozen. Children under 4 years of age must not eat reheated spinach and spinach in babyfood jars must be eaten immedeatly after opening.
2006-02-20 at 7.53 pm
I got here by googling “reheat spinach” :)
I’m from Indonesia, which used to be a Dutch colony, and ever since I was kid I also was taught that we should never reheat spinach :) but i never knew the reason behind it.. so just now I googled it because i’m planning to start eating more spinach :p
2006-03-03 at 5.57 am
Hahahaha – I am also an Indonesian but spent 15 years in Canada. It was only recently while I was reheating spinach that my (also Indonesian) wife said “HEY!! NEVER NEVER NEVER REHEAT SPINACH! It’s poisonous!” so a few weeks later I now have a chance to google her comment and came up with this ‘Dave’s Page’… very interesting, this spinach topic… hahahaha… cheers all
2006-03-14 at 2.42 am
Please give me a reason to not reheat spinach , I can only think of not reheating in the packaging due to plastic or nutrinet loss? And have heard to not reheat coffee- do you know why not for both?
2006-03-15 at 12.24 am
Thanks for this little discussion – it makes me laugh! My parents are Dutch, but I have lived in New Zealand for most of my life so consider myself a Kiwi. I have a 9 month old baby and made him some babyfood with spinach – and then froze the leftovers in little ice cubes – however, as i was reheating it, this memory popped up of my mum saying- “you can’t reheat spinach”. I asked my husband and he thought it was not true, so i googled “reheating spinach” and here i am! I’ve decided not to do it – not for my baby anyway.
2006-04-23 at 2.18 pm
I am canadian.Stuck in holland for a little while. Here, people – restaurant workers even – have told me about the ’spinach danger’. But then again, dutch people often have mullets, reply to most questions by stating that ‘it is not possible’, have a nice track record of handing over its Jews and the keys and of city hall to Hitler, and in short, grown men often wear red pants and endless numbers of sportsjackets.
Their calvanist officiousness makes me think that there isn’t really anything… rational here, in all its reasonableness. Looking into the average dutch person’s emotionless, distant, glint-of-steel eyes while the completely do not register a joke-in-passing makes me think that I should perhaps get out my yellow star (the police now fine you for not Having Your Papers on you – remember the last time a similar thing was going on?). And it makes me think they should learn to cook decent food, take a cue from the people’s they enslaved and colonised, and maybe include spinach in their meals, reheated or not.
Dude. They listen to bad Canadian classic rock, endlessly. In public even. And smoke more cigarettes than you could imagine. I am now christening the Hague as White Hell. I say fuck it, eat spinach whenever. People have been doing it for a long time. And compared to the deep-fried insanity that is the only available native fast food, it is likely less carcinogenic to eat spinach in a curry thats been recooked a couple time.
The Dutch make me like British people WAY MORE.
2006-05-05 at 4.58 am
Hey,
I’m Dutch, currently studying in New Zealand. My (Kiwi) roommate just reheated spinach. I immediately told her NOT to eat it, because it’s cancerous. She was very confused by this statement, because she had never heard of such a thing as reheating making spinach cancerous. I told her that it’s kind of a fact in the Netherlands.
I decided to google ‘reheating spinach’, and this is the first hit. So it turns out this ‘fact’ is only known in the Netherlands? But doesn’t the nitrate -> nitrite thing make it a fact? I’ll try to do some more research on this topic and find some ‘real’ scientific proof.
2006-05-05 at 5.10 am
Re: previous message
Okay, so here’s the deal:
Reheating spinach produces nitrite from the nitrate. The amount of nitrite is negligeble as long as you quickly cool the originally cooked spinach down, store it in the fridge and use it within a couple of days.
The problem with nitrite is that it can create an acid which is a know cause of cancer.
So, to be safe: quickly cool the originally cooked spinach down, or don’t reheat it at all.
2006-05-25 at 11.24 pm
My Dutch remark: elsewhere I googled that reheating the spinach produces nitrites because there are bacteria that apparently start growing after the first cooking. During slow reheat these bacteria will increase nitrite production up to 60 degrees centigrade and then die.
So if you want to believe this apparently exclusive Dutch/Flemish knowledge, quickly reheat the spinach in the microwave oven and the bacteria will not have enough time to convert nitrates to nitrites.
2006-07-09 at 11.57 am
So is it safe or not to reheat spinach…….I am still confused.
cheers,
Tony
2006-07-11 at 8.29 pm
i just made a huge soup and added spinich.. my partner is dutch and just told me that we cannot reheat the soup because of the spinich! I have never ever heard of this before, but cannot decide what to do – ignore and die? or throw away 3 litres of delicious home made vegetable soup. The latter is the option that i am going to go for – if i die so be it!!
2006-07-18 at 2.00 pm
Thank you all for this most amusing discussion! It is intersting to see how it developed from a simple question like ‘is reheating spinach unhealthy?’ to a level where a Canadian makes way to all his/her dislike of the Dutch.
Anyway, I’m German and most people know that the Dutch don’t really like the Germans (ok, who does?) but apparently we share a major treasure of wisdome: the Germans KNOW TOO that reheating spinach is dangerous!
I live in London and I just reheated the most fabulous spinach-lentil soup that my girl-friend (she is Dutch – something is really wrong here) cooked two days ago. Doing this I remembered what my mother, father, sister, cousins, uncles, ants, granparents, great-granparents, etc. always said: do never reheat spinach. I first googled on German webpages and, as I expected, I immediately found numerous well organized in depth discussions about the risks involved in reheating spinach (and mushroom, similar problem!) and detailed instructions on how to avoid these risks and how to reheat spinach safely. After that I went to UK sites to check whether the Brits are at all aware of this and I landed on this fun-spinach-Dutch-reheating discussion site.
Anyway, I did enjoy the reheated soup. The German view on this is as has been mentioned before a few times: as long as you keep the spinach in the fridge straight after you cook it the risk that the cancer causing nitrite develops in it is negledgible.
I will now go to Google India to see whether the Indians are at all aware of this… after all, most of my spinach I eat in Indian restaurants in London…. ;-)
Happy spinach reheating!
Volker
2006-07-23 at 6.34 pm
Here is a very interesting online article from EUFIC, the European Food Information Council, concerning the science behind reheating spinach.
http://www.eufic.org/web/page.asp?cust=1&lng=en&sid=4&did=12&faqid=6
Spinach and other leafy vegetables contain high concentrations of nitrate. The amount depends on the variety, season, and the soil and water conditions where the vegetable was grown. Nitrate itself is totally harmless, but it can be converted to nitrites, and then to nitrosamines, some of which are known to be carcinogenic. Enzymes present in bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite. This happens especially when spinach is heated, stored and then later reheated. Nitrite itself is a harmless compound, but it should be avoided by infants of up to 6 months. It can affect the ability of the blood to transport oxygen by transforming haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the blood, into methaemoglobin, a form of the protein which is unable to carry oxygen. This can be dangerous for babies and is commonly known as “Blue Baby Syndrome”. However, in view of the fact that acidic conditions favour the formation of nitrosamines from nitrite, coupled with the facts that nearly all foods contain some protein and are exposed to acid in the stomach nitrosamine production cannot completely be prevented. Hence the recommendation to avoid reheating spinach.
Cheers,
Theresa, Den Haag/Seattle
2006-08-02 at 1.23 am
I never heard that one should not reheat spinach. I did hear that drinking the cooking water was dangerous. My grandmother used to cook spinach and save the cooking water. She added milk to it, heated the mix, and drank it as a quick soup. I remember being told as a kid that my grandmother should not do that because the cooking water contained high levels of something horrible. And the myths go on!
By the way — Grandma lived to be 90.
2006-08-13 at 11.48 pm
This is to add that not only in Holland, Indonesia and Germany but also in Switzerland (which was never a Dutch colony, as far as I know) we learn that you should not reheat spinach. I never really knew why but I was always told so (again by my parents, uncles, grandparents and so on).
Now I actually live in London. As I was just heating (not reheating) a ready-to-eat potato-spinach gratin, I’ve seen a note on the package saying “DO NOT REHEAT”. So I wondered if this was because of the spinach and by googling it I got to this quite funny discussion…
So now I know that it’s because of the nitrites being produced from the nitrates. But on the other hand, sodium nitrite is used for meat curing in many sausages and other meat products. The nitrite inhibits the growth of microorganisms such as clostridium botulinum, which produces a nerve toxin, botulin. So it is quite essential to have it in there, even though it’s known to be (quite) toxic. And finally, most fruits and vegetables contain lots of nitrates from fertilisers, so why would there only be a problem with spinach?
Anyway, I finished the potato-spinach gratin, so I don’t have the problem of reheating it ;)
2006-09-05 at 5.27 am
I reheated spinach lasagne last night! My mum said: “Don’t eat it, it will make you sick” and I only replied “it wont kill me.” Well I am still alive after spending a whole night sick as a dog and throwing up for hours. So I thought I goggle the myth and see how wrong I was. Well, speaking by my last nights experience. I will not do it AGAIN.
2006-10-03 at 5.29 pm
I reheated 2 day old spinach lentil and lemon soup the day before flying from NZ to Australia, and was violently sick that evening and on the following day. Could not eat for 4 days afterwards and very weak. Spinach used was fresh leaves, but I have a packet of frozen spinach which cautions against reheating. I don’t feel like ever eating spinach again! A Swiss friend told me same problem exists with green runner beans.
2006-10-26 at 12.53 am
wikipedia says
(and notice they also say many other green vegetables)
Reheating spinach leftovers may cause the formation of poisonous compounds by certain bacteria that thrive on prepared nitrate-rich foods, such as spinach and many other green vegetables. These bacteria can convert the nitrates into nitrites, which may be especially harmful to infants younger than six months. The nitrate-converting enzymes produced by the bacteria can convert even more at elevated temperatures during the second heating. For older children and adults, small concentrations of nitrites are harmless, although formation of nitrosamine compounds from the nitrites could be of concern for adults as well. [1]
2006-12-10 at 5.07 pm
hmmm.. but what about the frozen spinach you buy cheap-cheap at the supermarkets? They’re all over Holland, and they kind of HAVE to be reheated…how does that work?
2006-12-18 at 11.21 pm
I was sure this was a food myth, I am researching it for a ethnic radio show on cooking myhts (Slovak Australians). This has been very well known to Slovaks also, but few Aussies have heard this.
Needless to say I am very surprised that this one might actually be true.
2006-12-23 at 9.24 pm
I just had this whole discussion with my English wife, who seemed equally puzzled. She’d never heard of such a thing. After reading the messages here, the ‘no reheating spinach’ doctrine seems to be a continental European thing, I certainly remember warnings on spinach bought in my native Denmark.
The risk seems small and as with any health warning should be taken with a grain of salt. Small is not the same as negligible, however. I am tired of people who cite their continued existence as proof of something ‘not being dangerous’. Sure enough, millions of people have survived driving while drunk or swimming with sharks. Or on a more nutrition-related note, eating lots of salt, fatty food and drinking too much. ‘Risk’ is not a binary issue, an “either-or”. ‘Risk’ is the stuff statistics are made of. And the statistics will tell you that all the above is risky, to say the least. Some people do live to ripe old age despite unhealthy habits. They are the exceptions, the literal ‘die-hards’. Personally, I have been to too many ‘under-65’ funerals already, where lifestyle factors were directly to blame for the early demise.
Returning to the more mundane topic of reheating spinach, I’d recommend caution rather than complacence. As with any cooking, observe elementary kitchen hygiene while preparing and cooking and make sure leftovers of any kind are cooled quickly before storage in fridge or freezer. And remember that food can contain toxins before it starts to smell ‘off’.
On a lighter note:
The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
On the other hand, the French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans.
Conclusion: Eat and drink whatever you like. It’s speaking English that kills you.
2007-01-29 at 1.59 am
It is a really interesting phenomenon that this is so widely “known”, but pretty much only in Continental Europe! I am American and last night my Austrian friend seemed appalled that I’d never heard of not reheating Spinach. I googled it to see if there’s anything to it, and I can’t believe all the discussion and the cultural differences!
I’m positive I have reheated Spinach before with no noticeable bad effects, but I maybe I’ll avoid it in the future if it’s not too inconvenient not to.
2007-01-31 at 6.31 pm
I’m originally from Holland, living in South Africa and told my housemate yesterday that reheating spinach was something to avoid, after he’d eaten a spinach-and-feta quiche, a very favourite vegetarian pie served in restaurants all over S.A.
Obviously these will be served reheated, unless served fresh.
I warned him before, as he likes to be a health-conscious vegetarian, and he decided to eat his quiche cold from now on.
I remember an accident in Holland with an Iglo- (frozen foods) cooling truck twenty odd years ago, where quite a few people died after eating their spinach. Nitrite poisoning, however not from the spinach, but appearantly leaked from the faulty cooling-system of the truck.
I always wondered about that coincidence, and also wondered if that incident had somehow highlighted nitrate-nitrite conversion in spinach, making the dutch super cautious when it comes to reheating spinach.
2007-01-31 at 10.06 pm
I’m German and my mother told me to never reheat spinach.
When I asked her “why”, she couldn’t give me an answer. I guess in the good old days you never asked questions, you just did what you were told. My guess is that the type of pot that was used to cook the spinach could have something to do with the fear of reheating.
I have since reheated spinach on occassion and are still alive to talk about it.
2007-02-16 at 12.10 pm
Well… I am Italian, my Greek boyfriend told me last night about this boring spinach thing. I had never heard anything like that in mylife. Well, three hours of my time and three liters of soup have now to go in the bin. Sometimes I think “Blessed ignorance!”
2007-04-29 at 10.19 pm
Spinach and other leafy vegetables contain high concentrations of nitrate. The amount depends on the variety, season, and the soil and water conditions where the vegetable was grown. Nitrate itself is totally harmless, but it can be converted to nitrites, and then to nitrosamines, some of which are known to be carcinogenic. Enzymes present in bacteria convert nitrate to nitrite. This happens especially when spinach is heated, stored and then later reheated. Nitrite itself is a harmless compound, but it should be avoided by infants of up to 6 months. It can affect the ability of the blood to transport oxygen by transforming haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the blood, into methaemoglobin, a form of the protein which is unable to carry oxygen. This can be dangerous for babies and is commonly known as “Blue Baby Syndrome”. However, in view of the fact that acidic conditions favour the formation of nitrosamines from nitrite, coupled with the facts that nearly all foods contain some protein and are exposed to acid in the stomach nitrosamine production cannot completely be prevented. Hence the recommendation to avoid reheating spinach.
2007-08-30 at 12.06 am
Hi, I am Dutch. I know about the reheating spinach issue, as learned from my parents. However, I have just eaten my favourite spinach recipe (ovendish, garlic + oil on the bottom, layers of fresh spinach (wasn’t 100% fresh, now thah I think of it) layer of mozarella-cheese, layer of spinach, pinetree nuts, more olive-oil, bake in oven for 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.
Last night I ate one half of it. After dinner, I left in the kitchen to cool down slowly, and put it in the fridge a couple of hours later before going to sleep. Tonight I decided to reheat the leftovers from yesterday while reading this website. Now I anticipate possible stumach-problems and will swallow a couple of carbon tablets (Norit) just to be on the safe side. I’ll drink some moer alcohol too.
I expect to be OK tomorrow and let yo know.
2007-08-30 at 12.24 am
Oops, after taking 5 charcoal tablets, I read on the backside: expiry date 02 2005. Hmmm, can charcoal actually go ‘off’? Is there a doctor in the house?
More alcohol? Finger in throat? Wine caries nitrites, right? Doesn’t it give you just a real bad headache if there too much of that in it?
It would really be nice if someone stated some real facts. Like: if spinach is heated over so many degrees in the first place, all bateria will die. And only then you will not be likely to experience food-poisoning.
If you heated it for only …. degrees, then left it for so many minutes/hours in at room temerature, and then reheated it again, the following is likely to happen:
….
2007-09-02 at 2.38 pm
Well, from experience I can tell anyone that reheating is definitly not healthy.
The next day I’ve had a headache all day long. My pharmacy told me that the charcoal tables were definately still OK and working. And had I not taken them, my feaces would have been almost fluid. Apart from that I did not suffer from any kind stomachache, nor did I have to throw up.
So I’d say: As a general rule, don’t reheat spinach.
2007-09-11 at 4.30 pm
This is really funny – I’m Canadian & never heard of this spinach reheating problem before. I live in France & a French friend who had also never heard about this called me up to warn me a few days ago, but she didn’t know WHY it was dangerous.
So today I cooked a ton of frozen spinach, we only ate half, it’s been sitting at room temperature for a couple of hours – what do I do with it ?!
I would have thought that heating up sufficiently would KILL bacteria, not let it proliferate ??
What a bizarre subject!
Maybe we’ll eat it cold.
2007-10-27 at 5.37 am
Hi, I’m Canadian and my girlfriend is Dutch. Ain’t spinach great?
2007-10-29 at 12.59 am
Hi all, I’m swedish, and let me tell you, swedes know all about not reheating spinach. as i’m not the most conforming swede i do reheat my spinach, and the only thing that sometimes happen is that i get a bout of the’runs’. why this is i would like to know and my googling has only led to telling me about outbreaks in the us after eating fresh spinach. i’m talking frozen! does anybody know why spinach would give you loose bowels?
2007-11-22 at 3.08 pm
Hang on people. The supposed danger in reheating spinach is that it can contain nitrosaimines, a carcinogen. This has nothing to do with intestinal distress. Lots of anecdotes about what happened the day after you ate spinach aren’t really relevant. It’s whether you later develop cancer. I don’t believe there is any data that shows nitrates, nitrites or nitrosamines cause food poisoning or intestinal issues, at least not n all my reading. If you eat spinach covered with cheese, or half a veggie lasagna, maybe it’s the richness that got you? Or maybe you really did get food poisoning, though that would be unreated to nitrosaimines.
2007-11-25 at 1.22 am
I am from the Caribbean and we have never heard of this over there. Added to this is the fact that my ancestors were from India and thus we cook a lot of spinach and greens. I have ate reheated spinach all my life and don’t seem to have any health problems. After doing some research, this is my take Apparently bacteria manifests on prepared nitrate rich foods. This bacteria has the ability to convert nitrates into nitrites, poisonous compounds, which in large doses could be harmful. This means that the small amounts caused by reheating is not likely to be harfmful to adults and small children but for infants under 6 mths.
What if I told you that nitrite/nitrate rich foods are good for you in the case of a heart attack?
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=85204
Also based upon the danger argument, then you would be wrong to reheat smoked and cured meats…which I may add is amply consumed in those same countries that are espousing the danger of reheating spinach.
http://www.time-to-run.com/nutrition/worstfoods.htm
..not to exclude foods with carrots, squash, beets….
Bottom line
My aunt once said, “too much of one thing is good for nothing”…translation anything in excess is bad for you.
My dad is 73 has been reheating spinach,etc…and has so medical ailments…his secret, no stress! Well it should come as no surprise that he is a major procrastinator…..but he will outlive us.
2007-12-08 at 12.59 am
I had never heard the ,” dont eat reheated spinach story ” either till my brother who lives in Holland brought it up while we packaged up some restaurant leftovers. I told him he was nuts ,but then got a chance to Google the subject and found this site. Apparently like so many other warnings passed down from generation to generation there is some truth to this story. That being said ,i think that the warning is similar to other warnings about foods such as cooling hot food as quickly as possible before storing it in the fridge. How about not eating raw chopped meat( something we did as kids) or not using the same cutting board for raw chicken and other foods? Do you eat raw cookie dough with eggs in it? thats another no-no . Now perhaps some of these practices wont kill you unless you are very young or possess a compromised immune system,unlike what reheating spinach could do to you( give you the dreaded big C ) It makes me laugh how some people will swear by something they were told as a kid but wont listen to factual scientific evidence and ignore warnings about other bad habits like for instance ,smoking ……….whatever; no one is gettin’ outa here alive!
2007-12-30 at 12.23 am
It was Christmas Eve, my daughter was making a huge amount of fresh spinach lasagna. The next day my daughter and her fiance were making fun of my warning to ” not eat the re-heated leftovers”. Yes, my daughter got sick that night (upper and lower). Even I didn’t heed my own warning and ended up feeling nauseous. I googled it to find proof for them, never expecting a page with such a heated international discussion about this subject, specifically the re-hashed Second World War at a “Spinach site” (?) I am from Germany and live in the USA. I too learned in my Dietetics and Nutritional classes (in Germany) about the nitrite issue, well explained by the many above comments. Nick (above) : We are all gettin’ outa here alive, but we leave our abused and worn out old suits behind ‘.
LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH
2008-01-02 at 1.12 pm
I’m American/Dutch (2 passports, born in U.S. , live in Holland, American wife)but that is not really relevant.
All I know is that warming spinach turn nitrates (good)- into nitrites (bad) . Only one letter, but why take the chance (especially seniors or babys).
Just eat it all, or, if there are leftovers, eat it cold !!
Bon appetit !!!!
2008-01-04 at 11.57 pm
What a fantastic site!! If only all international conflict could be debated in such an informed and light-hearted forum! I am British and had never heard of this warning until my friend informed me of this “European fact” on New Year’s Eve. She is spending a year studying in Spain, and she lives with Dutch, Belgian and German students (which explains how she heard about this!)
Anyway, like so many non-believers before me, I thought she must have misheard her housemates! How is it that most of the western world (eg. America/Canada/UK have never heard of this food safety warning, yet most of central-Europe think it is essential advice to pass on to their entire families?!
I eat a lot of spinach, and have always reheated it (as I often make too much). This is especially true with spinach soup.
I am now going to think differently about this cooking-habit of mine, and try not to do it too often (in the same way that i try not to smoke too often/lie under sunbeds etc.
However, I can’t take the warnings too seriously, because surely if the danger was so serious, the sale of spinach quiche or spinach curries in supermarkets would be banned, as they have to be reheated…
Who knows. Good luck to all fellow cynical-but-slightly-nervous spinach-reheaters!
2008-01-14 at 1.18 am
I’m a Canadian who recently travelled to London and Dubai. In both places I had Indian Palak Paneer (spinach and cheese) and both times, exactly 24 hours later, I was violently ill. Was it the spinach or something else? Maybe the rice or naan? Maybe poor hygiene/food prep standards? I’d eaten this dish a hundred times before and never had any problems…
2008-01-24 at 3.15 pm
I’m an Americian living in Switzerland with a Swiss man and my 3 children. My kids love spinich & potatoe purée, but we normally eat it all in one go. The other night I had leftovers, and actually thought about throwing them out, as I, too, have heard it isn’t healthy to reheat spinich. However, I ate the leftovers for lunch today and decided to check it out on google. I have just about killed myself laughing and hope that I won’t die from eating my reheated leftover spinich. I mentioned to my French physiotherapist about this not being safe, and she had never heard of it. I have also read that eating spinich with eggs is not healthy either.
I look forward to reading more comments.
2008-01-27 at 8.44 pm
Thanks for all the information. I especially enjoyed “reasonably hating Holland”s entry! Hilarious. (I hope you’re happy now mate). I’m a Brit living in the Netherlands and heard the “never re-heat spinach” thing a few years ago from a (now ex) girlfriend. That conversation ended in a nasty row as she couldn’t explain why and I couldn’t understand how something not dangerous could become dangerous the second time in a pan – you know how it goes. My girlfriend and I came here tonight to find out once and for all if the wicked spinach based curry I made last night can be served up hot again tonight in pancakes cos we’re hungry. After reading the wealth of information, and discussing the pros and cons, she’s downstairs mixing the batter and I’m here writing this. I will be joining her shortly to kill some bugs. But I smoke and drink too so what the hell! Eet smakelijk!
2008-03-17 at 5.43 pm
Spinach is one of the vegetables which may accumulate appreciable amounts of nitrate from the soil during the growing season. Nitrate is not harmful for our health. If raw spinach is cut and left for a long period of time or if cooked spinach is stored, nitrate is converted into toxic nitrite by bacterial activity. While the concentration of nitrite in re-heated spinach does not pose any problem for adults, babies and toddlers are much more sensitive to nitrite. Therefore, small children should not be fed cooked spinach that has been stored and reheated. Sterilized spinach filled in small glass jars as baby food should be used up directly after opening the jar.
2008-03-25 at 7.15 am
Q. Some vegetables contain nitrites, do they cause cancer too?
A. It is true that nitrites are commonly found in many green vegetables, especially spinach, celery and green lettuce. However, the consumption of vegetables appears to be effective in reducing the risk of cancer. How is this possible? The explanation lies in the formation of N-nitroso compounds from nitrites and amines. Nitrite containing vegetables also have Vitamin C and D, which serve to inhibit the formation of N-nitroso compounds. Consequently, vegetables are quite safe and healthy, and serve to reduce your cancer risk.
I found this on a website by the Cancer Prevention Coalition…this is so confusing. They claim that nitrites in hot dogs and smoked meats cause cancer, but nitrites in vegetables do not.
2008-04-16 at 1.18 pm
I am from Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of former Yugoslav republics and we too (people from all former republics) share the same wisdom :-) of not ‘reheating the spinach’. I prepared some from frozen leafs last night and couldn’t eat it all , so before I had it cold today (since we know it should definitely not be reheated :-) ), I just wanted to check whether it is safe to have it even cold the day after (i left it in the fridge over night) and I stumbled upon this page. It is amazing how certain facts (or myths) transcend the Continental Europe :-)
2008-05-21 at 11.53 am
I am- while writing this- eating my leftover spinach from last night cold…and my fish too. Mmm! Cold spinach!
2008-08-06 at 5.36 am
Hi. I’m Thai. I had never heard of such warning before until last month where my Danish mother-in-law told me I had to eat the leftover of her homemade & very delicious spinach quiche cold as she couldn’t reheat it. Doubting this myth, I decided to google and bumped into this discussion threads. How interesting that so many people googled on the same topics. So I thought I would just add another nationality to this discussion.
Anyway, I ended up not eating the cold quiche. Opted for something else.
Just FYI, I do have a great relationship with my mother in law.
2008-08-30 at 1.31 pm
Hi. I’m Australian (originally from South Africa). I had never heard any mention of reheating spinach until my Dutch fiance asked me tonight if I thought it would be a problem to reheat hamburger patties that were made with a small amount of spinach in them. I was very surprised that he thought it might be a problem! Anyway, I decided to look for more info and eventually came across this blog. I had first googled Australian websites for ‘reheating spinach’, but I mostly just found lots of recipes where reheating spinach was in the instructions!
2009-03-01 at 9.03 pm
[...] this blog http://www.davidbaakman.nl/index.php?p=119 the says that only Dutch concern with this saying… Well i don’t think it’s true… [...]
2009-03-05 at 8.19 pm
I make big batches of saag (curry with greens) from local spinach, mustard, collard and other greens. First of all, any bacteria in the leaf is killed because it’s cooked and dosed with enough salt, pepper and hot garam masala to embalm a corpse. After that I freeze the batches and (horror) thaw them, mix them with fresh meats or whatever and equal parts bas. rice. It’s incredibly tasty. I have heard about the legend of reheated spinach, but other than not feeding pounds of the stuff to an infant I can’t find any scientific studies on the matter. Nothing indicates it has caused any cancer or killed anyone. I think it’s just the Germans and Dutch being weird. Maybe something to do with infected spinach during the war.
2009-03-05 at 8.23 pm
“nitrate is converted into toxic nitrite by bacterial activity” If you have BACTERIA actively breeding in stored cooked spinach, then you need to toss the whole batch. The point is you bring your food to a nice boil, add sufficient salt and spice to preserve it and then FREEZE it, rendering the bacteria either dead or inactive. You then bring it out of the FREEZER, simmer it again and thereby kill any bacteria revived during the thaw. It’s common food safety. The myth really seems to come from a time before freezer technology, when old spinach dishes in the pantry were a breeding ground for bacteria.
2009-03-23 at 5.59 pm
Seems to me that the problem with reheating is that the protective vitamins C and D are destroyed upon the cooking and the nitrates are allowed to convert with abandon to nitrites, increasing the risk.
I like the option of caution for one reheating, and not leave the stuff in the frig for a week!
Also, p.s., oxalic acid is more of a problem in raw spinach than in cooked spinach.
2009-03-25 at 3.05 am
I am Serbian, and we know over there that spinach should not be re-heated. Some people are more sensitive and therefore shortly after feel sick in the stomach, but others do not. But the danger lays more deeply in the fact that spinach and other leafy vegetables contain high concentrations of nitrate, which by re-heating is converted to nitrites, and then to nitrosamines, some of which are known to be carcinogenic. It also affects the ability of the blood to transport oxygen by transforming hemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen in the blood, into methahemoglobin, a form of the protein which is unable to carry oxygen. However, in view of the fact that acidic conditions favour the formation of nitrosamines from nitrite, coupled with the facts that nearly all foods contain some protein and are exposed to acid in the stomach nitrosamine production cannot completely be prevented. Hence the recommendation to avoid reheating spinach.
2009-05-30 at 9.56 am
I am American, living in Germany for the last 26 years. I only “learned” in Germany that one should not reheat spinach – or mushrooms, for that matter. Or eat cherries and drink water together, or eat raw green beans, or parsley stems, or sit in a draft, or any number of other wives’ tales. Who knows?
2009-06-15 at 1.13 am
磻ҤۤɲȽФƤߤʤ褦ǤȽзǼĤǤΤ褦ʻҤȽвäƤߤޤ
2009-06-16 at 2.44 am
祳äΥͥˤȤ뱦ǾǾåƤߤ褦
2009-06-16 at 10.06 am
Those cases of throwing up/ e.g from reheated spinach lasagna are food poisoning. You guys have got to differentiate between packaged meals and real home grown, home made meals. Packaged food has gone through so much processing, so many conveyor belts.. if you reheat them YES you will likely get ill. It’s not the spinach! It’s the bacteria that was probably picked up when the cheese in your packaged lasagna was blended with water to fill it out.. or maybe it was the vietnamese chicken in your prepak meal that was first defrosted in holland, injected with water and polysulphates, refrozen and posted to birmingham where it was included in that lovely tesco chicken korma…… any packaged food doesn’t count for this discussion!!!!! DOH!
My spinach is from the garden… and I am gonna eat it!
:)
Chris
2009-06-17 at 1.54 am
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2009-06-17 at 10.14 am
ձǤϤ⡢SEX᤹礬¿褦Ǥ
2009-06-18 at 7.34 am
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2009-06-19 at 8.32 am
ͧãϤߤʥ쥷ȰǤޤäƤޤĥͷǤͥ벼a.a-mai@docomo.ne.jp
2009-06-20 at 8.08 am
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2009-06-21 at 8.20 am
ȽνλҤϡ⤬̵ʤȽзǼĤƤõƤޤ
2009-06-22 at 8.18 am
ȤϡߤʤΡ־餱١פåʿǤΥȤǤ
2009-06-23 at 8.12 am
ǿͥۥȤǤΥƥ˥åǽۤʼ餬館ޤ
2009-06-24 at 7.44 am
̡䥨ʤɤǽλҤHŮ륷奨˾λҤȤ˽ޤäƤΤǤ
2009-06-25 at 7.36 am
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2009-06-26 at 8.12 am
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2009-07-01 at 8.11 am
ǿ͵롢åȤϥץ쥤˶̣λٱ祵ȤǤ
2009-07-03 at 7.50 am
ͥɤƤ褦ͤƴޤayu-cha@docomo.ne.jp褫ä뤷ƤߤƤ
2009-07-05 at 8.45 am
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2009-07-10 at 8.16 am
äȤäƳڤߤޤ褫äڤץդǥ벼d.k.y.1205@docomo.ne.jp
2009-07-16 at 9.33 pm
yes yes… bring it on… i AM dutch… sofff….
anyway.. what everyone so far seems to go past is that nitrisamines are CARCINOGENIC.
the result is that regular indulgance in reheated spinach (or other green leafy vegetables) is not gonna make you feel bad – ITS THE CANCER YOU GET FROM IT 10 YEARS LATER that might ruin your apetite
and bla bla bla – yeah i know dozens of 2 pack a day die-hard cigarette junkies who didn’t die before their memories started gettin fuzzy… this is not exactly proof that turning your lungues into an extra runway for London Heathrow is a healthy way forward now IS IT??
anyway… just packed my lunch for tomorrow – homemade chickpea and spinach curry… HELLLOOO microwave LOL
2009-08-22 at 11.05 pm
What about using cooked spinach in baking? I cook spinach, then freeze it immediately in small batches. When I’m ready to bake muffins, I defrost the spinach at room temperature, puree it together with other ingredients (butternut, apples), and bake the muffins. I then freeze the muffins and defrost them at room temperature one at a time as I’m ready to eat them. Is this ok??
2009-10-11 at 3.33 pm
Today, when I cooked a lot of spinach, my (Dutch) husband warned me about the dangers of reheating spinach. Well, I’m from Taiwan and I never heard of any dangers, so I went ahead and saved some to reheat and eat later. I guess my husband won’t eat with me…
2009-11-12 at 3.20 am
I mention to a friend a recipe that I like to cook (cheesy spinach pasta bake) and said that I reheat the leftovers the next day. She told me her mum used to tell her not to reheat spinach. So I decided to google it and got this forum. I’ve not had any after effects but think I’ll stop reheating spinach! By the way I’m English and my friend is Croatian.
2009-11-26 at 3.44 pm
nehuy spamit s icq…
Very usefull. Thanks! nehuy spamit s icq…
2009-12-02 at 2.21 pm
I am from Austria and there too we say that you should never reheat spinach. I never found out why though, until today, when I started googling the subject. According to some German and Austrian websites this is what I found out: Spinach is very high in nitrates, which are NOT harmful. When reheated those nitrates can turn into nitrites, which ARE harmful. They can cause cancer. Only spinach that has been cooled down very quickly, such as by putting it into iced water, can be reheated. But generally they suggest not to reheat spinach. So there you go, those British chefs that were mentioned in the first comment seem to have been wrong after all.
2010-01-18 at 2.03 pm
I’m from the US, but have lived in various places in Europe for 15 years. Just learned about the no-reheating spinach thing from my German boyfriend the other day (no reasons given, as is typical with such maxims) and read through the postings on this site. About the only conclusion I can draw is that continental Europeans, with all of their “facts”, are much more susceptible to illness than much of the rest of the world.
Seriously, though: For those who get sick after reheating some spinach-based dish — try getting checked for food poisoning the next time it happens. I’m appalled at how often food here gets left out on the counter “to cool off” before it goes in the refrigerator or gets placed in a “cool place” for several days instead of being properly refrigerated. Such slow cooling/room temperature storage is perfect for breeding bacteria. Modern refrigerators, unlike ice boxes of old, are perfectly capable of cooling off food that is above room temp. (I admit, though, even I let it stop boiling first…)
Also, most people seem to miss that the nitrate/nitrite/nitrosamine issue, even if it is present in reheated spinach, is long-term, cancer-related, and not a bout of stomach upset and diarrhea. Your tales of being sick afterwards have nothing to do with the nitrite issue — that’s from bacteria, folks. Wash properly, cook properly, store properly, reheat properly. No problems, then.
2010-02-17 at 5.17 pm
I have, in my lunchbox, leftover spinach that we did not refrigerate overnight. now i am perplexed as to whether to heat or eat cold or even dump in the thrash… i have reaheated spinach often in the past but now i dont feel good about it… thanks to you scare mongers…. ps my mother is German, wife Dutch.. what the ell… cold spinach it is.