Spinach is one of the biggest culinary workhorses. It's delicious and nutritious both fresh and cooked, frozen and canned, in salads, on sandwiches, and wilted into just about any dish imaginable. But despite its integral role, it is a humble green; it does its honest work without complaint and often without being noticed, always adding that special nutty note and dose of iron you'd definitely be craving in its absence. Spinach first took up the garden gauntlet about 2,000 years ago in ancient Persia, and is related to beets, amaranth, and quinoa. It doesn't favor the heat but thrives in the cold—spinach seeds can be sown in the snow!