Saturday, January 13, 2007

Why Does Spinach...?

Why does spinach make my teeth feel chalky? No matter if I eat it cooked or raw, I always get this odd coating sensation after I have it.

Well, according to Alex Tangren of Chez Panisse, "Agricultural scientists say that this comes from the leaves' high concentration of oxalic acid."

Ever have a glass of milk with some rhubarb pie? Oxalic acid combined with the calcium in milk creates Calcium Oxalate.

And too much calcium oxalate causes kidney stones. So, watch your intake of oxalic acid. There's more info at Wikipedia.

1 comment:

Bon Vivant said...

I eat sauteed spinach a lot. It does leave that gritty feeling on my teeth. But sometimes it doesn't; like tonight I had sauteed spinach but I drank some red wine with my braised beef in red wine and I think that got rid of the grittyness. Either that or the fact that I used a little more oil in the spinach tonight.