Spinach

[Sakeopete]

I see processed items available all over Thailand that contain spinach but never see fresh spinach at markets. Has anyone come across some or a place to buy seeds?

[WatersEdge]

Are you traveling distance from Chiang Mai?

May I heartily recommend

Mr. Suwat Kongkhunthian

[email protected]

Kantar Company Limited

Tel: 081-671-2783

053-232-839

He has just about every farm and vegetable seed imagined.

Good line of Japanese, European, American stuff.

If he doesn't have it, either he knows where to get it,

or he will refer you to the other guys who have it.

Really nice guy, speaks good English.

Also has all the nursery supplies imaginable.

He's way too busy to play games...strictly to the point all business,

How can we help the Customer in the most direct fashion?

His right hand man who normally runs the show

follows the Boss in the same attitude.

He's a block set back off the Ping River Road West side

just south of the Super Highway.

It's one of those places cut off from the rest of the world,

even though it's in the apparent center of everything.

As my Mother said of places hard to find

You can't get there from here.

You must be born there to be there.

Probably best way is for me to email the Google Earth marker

if you'd like to PM me with your email

[Khonwan]

Spinach ผักขม (pàk kŏm). My wife says the seeds are readily available. Check out your local ag shops (the suppliers of fertiliser, etc).

Rgds

Khonwan

[WatersEdge]

Pak Kom is not Spinach.

It is Spiny Pigweed Amaranthus spinosus

Spinach taxonomic label is Spinacia oleracea

I readily see the connection however.

A. spinosus is called Spinach by Thais for lack of a better English word.

It does smell and taste like Spinach when boiled,

is very nutritious packed with protein

so I suppose if it quacks like a duck

it could easily be confused with a duck.

Where's Popeye when we need an expert.

Fabulous pig feed by the way,

and we don't boil it,

just feed it in large quantity raw

with the pigs eating it as quickly as we dump it into the corral.

That must be why it's called Pigweed?

As for the seed, you certainly shouldn't have to buy it.

It is as prolific a weed as any other on the farm.

Once it is rooted, you can harvest monthly cuttings off everything green above the surface,

as it will regrow to full stature from a fresh sprig from the root

in 30 days after shaved off at soil level

It seems best to not leave any green standing,

but carefully hoe it off at ground surface.

If you chop out the root, and don't knock the soil from it,

it will continue to live and grow.

I learned all this while fighting it as a weed,

before I learned that it is a prime feed resource.

If prevented from maturing to seed by steadily cutting it off,

it will continue to grow an unknown number of cycles

as long as there is good water and soil nutrients.

It seems to be a good means of retrieving soil nutrients

that have leached below normal crop root zone.

When it doesn't have enough water

it is toxic to ruminants.

My goats eat the leaves just fine when it has plenty of water,

and when the plant is young and vibrant

but don't touch it when it's dry or old

Haven't seen any negative effect on the goats.

There's a rusty red smooth stem variant

don't know the species, but acts like an Amaranthus in every way

close in appearance but which the pigs don't like,

and it does not have the thorn.

Only the thorny one is desirable.

I'd like someone smarter than I to comment about the long term effects

of pigs eating a lot of it.

as it has calcium oxalate and the enzyme oxalate oxidase

Calcium oxalate is apparent a cause of kidney stones.

while oxalate oxidase is necessary in the manufacture of hydrogen peroxide H2O2

When I read the medical reports on it,

I'm very quickly baffled by what all those fancy terms actually mean.

[fremmel]

My print dictionaries agree that ผักขม is what we call spinach - spinacia oleracea. My online dictionary (www.thai-language.com) agrees with WatersEdge and says that ผักขม is Amaranthus spinosus a "spinach-like Thai vegetable". When I go to Makro in Udon I have to ask for buai ling - ป๋วยเล้ง - to get real spinach. If I ask for phak kom I get Amaranthus spinosus. I've never bought seed but if you do you probably ought to look at the packet carefully to make sure you get the right stuff.

[Khonwan]

Thanks for clarifying this, guys.

Rgds

Khonwan

[rice555]

Hello All, this is an old thread on spinach:

The same info is more or less the same as before.

I do find fresh spinach sometimes at The Mall Korat in the

cooler season.

Same as the other thread, like jaideeguy, I have to 2 types

to plant if it stops raining, Bloomsdale Longstanding and

Tyee F1-OG, they both are slower to bolt than other western

verities.

If you can get by with the green leafy part of swiss chard,

they can take heat beater than spinach before bolting.

rice555

[DannyS1951]

In the tropical and semi-tropical north of Australia they grow Silver Beet as a substitute for spinach which is a cool weather crop. In England we call this Swiss Chard. I haven't seen seeds here but either the UK or Australia should be good sources.

[Sakeopete]

Thanks for the replies, sorry no one replied for so long I didn't check it again till today.