Spinach Substitute Taste Test

 For those who have been around indoor hydroponics groups for any amount of time, it's common knowledge that spinach just doesn't do well.  Either it is extremely difficult to germinate, or if you get it to germinate, it bolts almost immediately, before you can even really harvest any leaves.

Thus, finding a decent substitute for spinach - in salads or cooked - is a common pastime. 

As such, I set out to test two of the more commonly-touted substitutes, tatsoi and komatsuna, as well as a third, a relatively new hybrid heirloom of the two, chijimisai.

Raw Eating Results

Tatsoi is as much stem as leaf, so the texture is quite different from (leaf only) spinach, and it has a touch of mustardy spiciness, but not much. It does have the sort of 'squeaky' quality spinach has. Overall, you aren't going to mistake it for spinach, but it satisfactorily fulfills a similar function in a salad.   

It has very small, round leaves, which are vaguely amusing visually, and a bit of a pain/time consuming to harvest, though the long stems make it somewhat easier.

 

Komatsuna is actually quite similar, though a bit chewier and a bit more umami tasting. But, with your eyes closed (none of them *look* like spinach), you miiight mistake it for a very odd umami/nutty spinach.  

It is the exact opposite of Tatsoi in terms of growing - it has truly massive leaves, some of them larger than my entire hand with fingers fully splayed (see picture).  It should definitely be grown with a single plant in a pod, and probably best with at least one neighboring space empty or in an outside corner when growing in an Aerogarden.

 

Chijimisai is definitely the closest to spinach of the three raw. The texture (of the leaf part, it also has a -lot- of stem) is very close, and the flavor is light and on the sweet side. I think with your eyes closed you could definitely mistake it for spinach, especially if you weren't aware ahead of time that it wasn't.

As one might expect, its growth habit is something of a cross between its two parent plants; the leaves are somewhat larger than Tatsoi, and more oval than round, but it has a very visually interesting wrinkliness, especially when young (semi rugose). 

In the end, all three are decent substitutes for raw spinach, even if you might not actually mistake them if you're aware of and looking for the differences.  The Chijimisai is by far the closest, but its slow growth is definitely a downside (see: Lettuce Variety Roundup Review).

Cooked Results

I cooked all three of them (Tatsoi, Komatsuna, and Chijimisai) separately, just as I would normally cook spinach - that is, with a little water in the pot and a sprinkling of salt, then a little butter once it is drained and in the bowl. 

Bottom to Top: Chijimisai, Tatsoi, and Komatsuna

 

They were all lovely, each in different ways. I don't think any of them could be mistaken for spinach, though, even the stemminess aside.

The Tatsoi just tastes like a very mild mustard green. It's a lovely flavor, but it's very distinctly mustard green, not very spinach-like at all.

With the Komatsuna, that nutty umami flavor it has raw is even more pronounced cooked. It is surprising and delightful, but again, distinctly not spinach. Closer to (cooked) kale, if anything.

As for the Chijimisai, it was once again the closest of the three to spinach, but if you tried it with a blindfold, you'd probably guess turnip greens, not spinach.

Interestingly, as my spouse pointed out, the closest to actually tasting like spinach is if you mix the three together!

But all in all, none of them is really a direct substitute for spinach in terms of flavor when cooked. Delicious, and certainly fulfills the same function for the meal, but Just Not Spinach.