What's in season: Spinach at Rochambeau Farm

Rochambeau Farm manager Natalia Cardona with a recent crop of spinach greens. Amy Sowder Photos

By AMY SOWDER

The beauty of spinach is in its versatility.

Want a spinach salad with strawberries, pecans, gorgonzola cheese, and vinaigrette? Of course.

How about a spinach and feta quiche? Sure.

What about spinach, roasted tomato, ricotta penne with salmon — or black bean, chicken, spinach enchiladas? Put both on the week’s dinner menu.

Spinach and sausage pizza? Yes, please.

And let’s whip up a banana-mango-ginger-Greek yogurt-spinach smoothie while we’re at it.

Spinach’s mild, sweet flavor and tender texture don’t hurt either — especially compared to other greens. (We’re looking at you, peppery-tasting arugula, watery iceberg, and tough-yet-trendy kale.)

Farm store and farm manager Natalia Cardona listed similar recipe ideas while walking among the rows of roots and greens sprouting in the field at Rochambeau Farm in Mount Kisco on a crisp day where the gray sky threatened another sprinkle. Her father, Amador Cardona, is the farmer at Rochambeau, and he plants from seed.

“It’s peak season for greens. While summer is mild, we’ll have more greens,” she says, squatting down to the soil to pluck off a spinach leaf. “Here, try it.”

Yep. This historic farm’s fresh produce, situated beside Guard Hill Preserve bordering Bedford Corners, tastes sweeter than a plastic-sealed supermarket bag of baby spinach shipped aboard a refrigerated semi-truck from hundreds of miles away.

And if you eat the spinach within a day or two of purchase, your body will rejoice in the extra dose of nutrients. One study showed that most produce loses about 30 percent of its nutrients within three days of harvest. Other studies show a more rapid loss, especially vitamin C, which spinach is packed with. This crowd-pleasing green also has vitamins A and K, as well as folate, iron, fiber and potassium.

“I know people don’t often have time, but try to eat it within a day or two,” Cardona says. “It’s hard, I know, I have two kids. But you don’t have to outdo yourself with how you prepare it. Shopping every couple days promotes eating healthier, fresher.”

By Sunday, whatever vegetables aren’t sold but still in good condition are donated to the Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry. “We try to use everything and make sure nothing goes to waste,” Cardona says. “If it looks really sad, we give it to the chickens and pigs. Even our goats and sheep won’t eat it. They’re picky eaters.” Cardona laughs, “They tend to be prima donnas.”

Despite its tenderness, spinach is a hardy, early-season leafy green that likes chilly weather. True, people often come to Rochambeau Farm for the tomatoes because it’s what they’re especially known for, and what’s on the menus at RiverMarket Bar & Restaurant in Tarrytown, Bedford Golf & Tennis Club, and soon at Chappaqua’s The Kittle House Inn. But tomatoes don’t thrive in the cold, Cardona says. They seek the intense summer heat. The farm’s cucumbers come in tandem with tomatoes. 

Like spinach, kale likes the cold too. Soon after spinach comes romaine, lolla rossa and red leaf lettuces. June is also when strawberries pop up, so it’s a good chance to pair your locally grown spinach with some sweeter-tasting locally grown strawberries before the spinach takes a leave of absence until September.

Rochambeau Farm has its own produce, pizza, plus local and regional food products and is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. 

Rochambeau Farm is located at 214 West Patent Road, Mount Kisco. For more information, visit rochambeaufarmny.com.