Is silverbeet called spinach?

snottiegobble starts with ...
We have heaps of silverbeet at the moment & I would like to try making Saag for which there are numerous recipes.(google)
All use "spinach" as an ingredient & common sense tells me ( because its Indian) it isnt English Spinach they refer to, but I would just like to know for certain ! Is Spinach American for silverbeet??

Jason says...
Given India's strong historical ties with England they would be talking about proper Spinach for sure

snottiegobble says...
Kathy, you are a wealth of info! Thankyou! I will now make my saag with confidence! I am however intrigued by the fact that you were able to include Indian symbols in your excellent reply!!

Kathy says...
snottiegobble - it's a cheat - it only looks impressive - I just copied and pasted from wikipedia :(
Kathy

Jason says...
That's interesting Chris, I never knew Sydney folk had this secret naming system going on with silver beet and spinach.

Silver beet is called that right through Victoria and South Australia at least

Jason says...
Don't look at us you are the one from Sydney lol

Chris says...
I'm a transplant too! Moved to Sydney later on in life. And you are right they are not at all alike in taste or botanically speaking.

snottiegobble says...
Well I made chicken saag using what I thought was a hell of a lot of silverbeet, but it melted down in the wok to something I could handle & I got an A+ from my better half! Thanks Google, & everyone on the thread!

JulieN says...
In my experience (50-odd years)(or 50 odd years) in NSW, silverbeet was called spinach "in the olden days" as English spinach was rarely available. In these days where just about everything is available, silverbeet is called silverbeet & English Spinach is called English Spinach. Silverbeet does cook down to a reasonable substitute (I actually prefer it!) if you cut out the thick stems - but they're yummy too, if you slice them finely. I also suspect that "baby spinach" is a different species, and what I call swiss chard is actually beetroot leaves, with the lovely red veins. Then you've got that Indonesian vine that's referred to as some sort of spinach but the leaves are quite thick and succulent. That said, it does taste very similar.

Chris says...
JulieN, silverbeet is still called spinach here in Sydney!

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Mike says...
I reckon it is always best to go with the local name when there are numerous names for the same fruit or vegetable.That even goes for regional names like those outposts that have different names for eggplant,zucchini and rock melon.If you use an imported name and stick to your guns in defiance of local vernacular it is poor form.It is a different situation where the names are just incorrect or swapped around like what often happens with bok choy and pak choy or spring onions and shallots.

snottiegobble says...
Some of the biggest misnomers : pawpaw instead of Papaya, Kiwifruit instead of Chinese gooseberries, New Zealand Yams instead of Ocas & even Tamarillo isnt the correct name for Tree tomatoes, but who would argue about Canola being used instead of Rape!

Speedy says...
Courgette is French name which has been adopted in UK ,
zucchini is Italian name ...Italians where largely responsible for it's introduction to the Australian vernacular... we could argue about whos right ... French or Italian, but the plant being originally from the Americas, Summer squash , even though we may use that term for different looking veges, it may trump both french and Italian names.
That all being said, I reckon Mike's on the money....
go with the local names.

Sweet Potato (Ipomoea batatas) was introduced to Europe before Potato (Solanum tuberosum) and it was known as potato (batata, batatas ... see the latin name)
the 'Irish' potato (Solanum) was later introduced and was more suited to the growing conditions and so of course took over it's place on the table in Europe, and the name.
so, is it still wrong to call Solanum tuberosum a 'potato' after more than 300yrs use and cultivation in Europe.

I've even heard ppl in NNSW refer to sweet potato as 'sweet spuds'.
Spud is a term given to potato (S.tuberosum) named after a digging tool used in cultivation.
so, names for plants have been stolen for others and other names stolen back.

I could go on about hmany other 'wrong names'
eg. 'Brazilian cherry'
is it Eugenia brasiliensis (or is that a Grumichama) , Eugenia uniflora(or is that Surinam Cherry, or Pitanga), is it a cherry (Prunus sp.) at all?
Why call it a cherry when its not a cherry?
same arguments could be said for any vege or fruit you could think of.

this stuff has been going on for centuries and will continue.
Language is living and rarely static.

Pauline says...
Veggies not so much, other than butternuts being called pumpkins when they are actually winter squash. But I am used to that now. ;-)
It is more often something which has been bought to oz from somewhere else and then changed. I saw a Herman girl in a Herman pub having a big argument with the waiting staff as she had ordered xxxx dish. From what I heard the dish came out didn't even slightly resemble the dish which actually had that name. She was even braking it down saying 'look, this word is german for (whatever it was), but there isn't even and of xxxx in this'.
There are many smaller examples.

Mike says...
Sometimes it goes even further just ask a Thai person for Thai Basil or a Vietnamese person for Vietnamese mint, a french person for french shallots or a chinese person for chinese cabbage.

amanda says...
So true :) Must admit I get a bit frustrated with the confusion over spring onion, green onion, shallot, french shallot, salad onion etc...when trying to use a recipe from a non-Aust cook book..?

snottiegobble says...
To my mind shallots are onions that grow in clusters, in other words you plant one & it reproduces itself many times. Unlike spring onions ,shallots have brown to gold skin just like their larger cousins brown onions, but have a milder flavour!
There are also potato onions & tree onions that are also small with brown skin, but they have slightly different shape & habits. Unlike spring onions these above mentioned can be stored & used dry!

MaryT says...
Speaking of spring onions Amanda, black thrips just LOVE them (and garlic chives) so I plant them as a 'distraction' from other things (such as sweet basil). It works.