Some also put in some leaves of parsley and marjoram, cut but not pounded, a half pound of white ginger and eight ounces of sugar. When all these are mixed together and put in a pot or well-greased pan, make them boil on coals far from flame so they do not absorb smoke, mixing constantly until they become thick. When they are almost cooked and transferred to a dish, cover with the best sugar and rose water. This dish is as much greener as it is better and more pleasing. Let Philenus Archigallus beware of this, for it digests slowly, dulls the eyes, makes obstructions, and generates stone.
Spinach is the lightest kind found among garden vegetables.
I would believe it is divided into two kinds, since there is black and white. Black grows almost with a head like onions, cabbage, and lettuce, and there is almost no garden vegetable greater in breadth. Some think the nature of spinach inert and without force, even if it usually disturbs the bowel even to the bile. Taken in food, it soothes excessive menstruation in women, but chard, which is white, maintains a mean. It is most usefully given to those with liver and spleen illnesses, with sweet spices which temper its saltiness.