Raw & Dairy Free Spinach Soup

“I know.  It sounds AWFUL.  I saw a post for raw spinach soup and how nutritious it was but it took me MONTHS to actually try it.  It was okay.  I’d eat it again.  But, I like my new & improved version a lot better.

I PROMISE if you try this, you will like it.  It is 100% Johny approved.  My friends love it.   My sister-in-law has made it 4 times just this week.  My niece was here yesterday and she and her toddler liked it too so it’s even kid approved!

I totally get that the whole raw soup thing is a little odd.  But you’ve had gazpacho right?  And you lived to tell about it and probably would eat it again.

This is the same but different.   It’s really just a spinach salad, with oranges, mango’s, and avocado on it.    You’d eat that right???   Well, this is just a creamy satisfying version of that, without all the chewing.  I’m becoming a big fan of getting my leafy greens via soup!” – Tracy Konoske

History of Spinach

Spinach is thought to have originated in ancient Persia (modern Iran and neighboring countries). It is not known by whom, or when, spinach was introduced to India, but the plant was subsequently introduced to ancient China, where it was known as “Persian vegetable”. The earliest available record of the spinach plant was recorded in Chinese, stating it was introduced into China via Nepal (probably in 647 AD).

In AD 827, the Saracens introduced spinach to Sicily. The first written evidence of spinach in the Mediterranean was recorded in three 10th-century works: the medical work by al-Rāzī (known as Rhazes in the West) and in two agricultural treatises, one by Ibn Waḥshīyah and the other by Qusṭus al-Rūmī. Spinach became a popular vegetable in the Arab Mediterranean and arrived in Spain by the latter part of the 12th century, where the great Arab agronomist Ibn al-ʻAwwām called it, ‘the chieftain of leafy greens’. Spinach was also the subject of a special treatise in the 11th century by Ibn Ḥajjāj.

The prickly-seeded form of spinach was known in Germany by no later than the 13th century, though the smooth-seeded form was not described until 1552. (The smooth-seeded form is used in modern commercial production.)

Spinach first appeared in England and France in the 14th century, probably via Spain, and it gained quick popularity because it appeared in early spring, when other vegetables were scarce and when Lenten dietary restrictions discouraged consumption of other foods. Spinach is mentioned in the first known English cookbook, the Forme of Cury (1390), where it is referred to as ‘spinnedge’ and/or ‘spynoches’. Smooth-seeded spinach was described in 1552.

Spinach was supposedly the favourite vegetable of Catherine de’ Medici. Dishes served on a bed of spinach are known as “Florentine”, reflecting Catherine’s birth in Florence.

During World War I, wine fortified with spinach juice was given to French soldiers weakened by hemorrhage. (Source)