[Sca-cooks] Advice on a leafy green vegetable

[Terry Decker]

>> On Aug 14, 2009, at 12:16 PM, Susan Fox wrote:
>>
>>> Asian markets are such fun.  I discovered a leafy veg called "on  choy" 
>>> that I think I like better than spinach anyway.  Very mild in  flavor 
>>> and takes up sauces like a champ.
>>
>> A.k.a. hong choy, water spinach, or simply "hollow-stemmed vegetable"  in 
>> English. Most commonly sauteed with lots of garlic and ginger, or  with 
>> white fermented bean curd "cheese" sauce (fu yee or fu ngoy).  Less 
>> astringent than spinach, too.
>>
>> I believe it's an amaranth relative.
>>
>> Adamantius
>
> No.  Bok choy is Brassica rapa in the Family:  Brassicaceae, Order: 
> Brassicales.  A cabbage.
>
> Amaranth and malay spinach are both in the Order:  Caryophyllales. 
> Related by in two seperate Families:  Amaranthceae and Basellaceae.
>
> Bear

Sorry, I'm fogged from the drugs I'm taking to fight off an upper 
respiratory infection.  I was reading "on choy" as "bok choy."  Water 
spinach is Ipomea aquatica.  It's in the same genus as the sweet potato 
(Ipomea batatas).  Not related to amaranth.

Bear