Botanical atlas

New Zealand Spinach

Tetragonia tetragonioides

New Zealand spinach earned its place in garden history when the naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander gathered it at Queen Charlotte Sound during Captain Cook's first Pacific voyage in 1770. The crew boiled and ate the sprawling, salt-tolerant leaves to help ward off scurvy on the long sea passage, and the plant was carried home to Kew Gardens soon after, becoming one of the earliest food plants Europe received from the Pacific. Maori communities had long gathered it as kokihi, a wild coastal green valued for food long before European ships ever appeared on the horizon. In the centuries since, cooks in hot climates have leaned on it as a reliable stand-in for true spinach, which tends to wilt and bolt the moment summer heat arrives.

Safety.

New Zealand spinach contains oxalic acid, much like true spinach and chard, so the traditional practice is to blanch or boil the leaves briefly and discard that cooking water before eating, which softens the leaves and reduces their oxalate content. People who are prone to kidney stones, gout, or who follow a low-oxalate diet should be especially mindful of this and may wish to limit how often they eat it. It is not known to be toxic when prepared this traditional way, but as with any leafy green eaten regularly, it is worth talking with a doctor or qualified healthcare professional about how it fits into your particular diet.