Who Likes Canned Spinach and Canned Carrots?

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Before I go to all the trouble could you please send me your investment portfolio and your tax returns for the past 7 years? :LOL:

The vinegar on spinach is a very common thing - also for collard greens. I don't know if it's a midwest thing or a southern thing or simply a "spinach thing" :LOL: And to top it off a lot of people will toss in a few sliced hot chili peppers OR you can buy vinegar with whole chili peppers in them and use that.
I think the vinegar thing with spinach, came about because we are not going to run to the store in the dead of winter to get a lemon, but how many of us run out of vinegar? Spinach with butter and vinegar...Yummers. My mom and mother in law both use to use canned spinach when they made their home made raviolis, saved them an hour in the putting together process that way...

kadesma;)
 
I had a friend that used to live in TX tell me about the vinegar thing, though I don't know where he picked it up. It's OK for a changeup, but I much prefer plain old butter on canned spinach.
 
I use vinegar on many greens. Cooked cabbage, Brussel sprouts, Spinach, most other cooked "greens". Usually apple cider vinegar, but red wine works well and for a different flavor, balsalmic vinegar adds an entirely different level of flavor.

Adding acid can also lessen the need for salt. If you think a cooked green needs more salt, try a little vinegar first.
 
I had a friend that used to live in TX tell me about the vinegar thing, though I don't know where he picked it up. It's OK for a changeup, but I much prefer plain old butter on canned spinach.

Funny thing is I've never heard of putting butter on spinach :blush: or greens of any kind. A bit of vegetable oil or I prefer light olive oil and beef broth maybe, but never butter - ok, and maybe some fat back in the "olden" days!
 
Funny thing is I've never heard of putting butter on spinach :blush: or greens of any kind. A bit of vegetable oil or I prefer light olive oil and beef broth maybe, but never butter - ok, and maybe some fat back in the "olden" days!

Believe it or not.. Cracker Barrel has a descent turnip greens and fat back side dish..
 
I don't think mom knew what olive oil was.....Not that there's anything wrong with that;)
I grew up having butter on all my veggies. And rice and noodles and potatoes.... :)
 
Believe it or not.. Cracker Barrel has a descent turnip greens and fat back side dish..

My sister and BIL eat there all the time, but I'll bet that's one thing they haven't had :LOL:
Although...... we did go to Bob Evan's a few weeks ago and my sister ordered grits! Now where on earth did she get that from?! :LOL:
You'd have to know my sister....
 
All we ever had growing up was either fresh vegetables in season, or canned vegetables, including carrots and spinach, out of season. WE had an old Kelvinator refrigerator with a freezer about the same size as our milk box, so there was very little room for Birdseye stuff once the weeek's meat was stashed in there. What difference does it make whether your grandma canned fresh vegetables in mason jars or professionals canned them in tin cans?

In fact, I prefer canned peas to frozen peas any day. The color of canned peas may be a little off, but frozen peas have the consistency of BBs.
 
All we ever had growing up was either fresh vegetables in season, or canned vegetables, including carrots and spinach, out of season. WE had an old Kelvinator refrigerator with a freezer about the same size as our milk box, so there was very little room for Birdseye stuff once the weeek's meat was stashed in there. What difference does it make whether your grandma canned fresh vegetables in mason jars or professionals canned them in tin cans?

In fact, I prefer canned peas to frozen peas any day. The color of canned peas may be a little off, but frozen peas have the consistency of BBs.


you are on my wave length, frozen peas are just awful. i love the tiny tiny lasure peas the best , love em with purple onion and a little mayo, with soda crackers. a great snack.

babe:chef::chef:
 
We all have preferences about what we like, what we would prefer, etc ... but I think it is a little disingenuous to try to suggest that someone who enjoys "canned spinach" is inferior in any way.

Paula and I grew up in Albany, GA at the same time (3rd-5th grades) ... neither of us came from rich families, and she and I share the experience of being a single parent with two hungry boys to feed - on a very limited budget. Sometimes - canned veggies were the only way to make the food budget work (4-5 cans/$1).

So - for some of us - canned spinach is "comfort" food. My sons - same ages as Paula's sons - also eat canned spinach from time to time ... although they can both now afford fresh or frozen.

There are all kinds of ways to "improve" the flavor of canned stuff ... I still sometimes do what Mom used to do - chop up a slice of bacon and saute it, add a can of drained canned spinach ... I'm back in Mom's kitchen in about 1954. Sometimes I make a roux of bacon grease and flour - and make creamed canned spinach. I can also make creamed canned peas with a small bit of butter ... a little brown sugar and butter - you can make glazed canned carrots.

DiscussCooking is a site for all cooks - of all levels - of all budgets ... not just for folks who can afford the 1-5 Star Restaurant prime ingredients. It's easy to make fresh ingredients taste good - it's a challenge to make something out of a can taste appealing.
 
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Michael, you have hit the nail on the head, as usual. I grew up in Northern New York and we had canned veggies almost exclusively. It's what was available and we liked them. I still use some of them and also some frozen veg's. The sauerkraut I buy comes in a vacuum packed bag and is very good, I think. BTY we always put vinegar on the spinach, not sure where my mother got that idea, but we were as far from Southern as you can get.
 
We all have preferences about what we like, what we would prefer, etc ... but I think it is a little disingenuous to try to suggest that someone who enjoys "canned spinach" is inferior in any way.

I hope no one did that because I don't think it's disingenuous; I think it's rude. It's fine to express your opinion about a food or cookware or a method of cooking, but it's not okay, IMO, to do so in a way that demeans others' choices. I've seen some pretty contentious "discussions" veer in that direction quite quickly because some people are so wedded to their own ways.

I do think, though, that it's perfectly appropriate to critique a celebrity chef's approach to cooking, whether that critique be positive or negative.
 
:)Those that look down on canned food need to read the history of canned food. It really changed the world. People did not have access to all the fruits and vegetables year round with many developing serious nutritional deficiencies such as scurvy.Once canned products were available people got to try other types of food that would not have survived the trip were they fresh. With gas prices these days we may at some point not be able to get fresh everything. Then one may appreciate that humble can of vegetables.Nothing needed to keep canned food no freezer no freezer burn an a long, long shelf life. So there!:-p
 
oh, canned veggies aren't that dagnabbin yucky. i like canned peas 'specially. canned taters, carrot, & spinach, yeah, i avoid them just cause thier texture is soggy, others i'm fine with.
 
As has been said earlier and by others, fresh IS always better, but that's not always available. I use canned goods when fresh or frozen aren't available. Believe it or not, frozen isn't something I can get my hands on.

Having said that, I am just now beginning to be able to eat "processed" carrots. (See my earlier comment about an allergic reaction.) So far, so good.

Haven't tried canned spinach but, in the spirit of experimentation, I'm going to buy some the next time I'm in the market to see what it's about. Gonna see what it's like. Have a feeling it's inexpensive enough that, if I don't care for it, it can be deep 6'd.
 
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