Incredible shrinking greens

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Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient

Directions

Since greens shrink so dramatically when prepared and cooked, it's hard to know how much to buy when a recipe gives ingredient amounts such as "2 cups blanched and squeezed spinach". It's equally difficult to calculate how to substitute frozen spinach for fresh.

Though based on averages, the following tables should help you make more accurate guesses.

: Yield from 10 ounce package fresh (curly-leaf) spinach, pre-rinsed

: and stemmed:

: 1½ ounces stems

: 8 ½ ounces lightly packed leaves : scant ⅚ cup wilted and lightly squeezed leaves : Yield from 1-pound bundle of flat-leaf spinach: : 6 to 7 ounces stems

: 9 to 10 ounces leaves : 8 to 9 cups lightly packed leaves : about 1 cup wilted and lightly squeezed leaves : Yield from 1-pound bundle of Swiss chard: : 9 ounces stems (cut into 1-inch pieces equals 4 cups) : 7 ounces leaves

: 6 ¾ cups lightly packed leaves : 1 cup wilted and lightly squeezed greens : Yield from 1-pound bundle of beet greens: : 8 ounces stems

: 8 ounces leaves

: 7 to 8 cups lightly packed leaves : 1 cup wilted and lightly squeezed leaves : Yield from 10-ounce package of frozen spinach: : 6 ½ ounces or scant 1 cup thawed and lightly squeezed leaves Cook's Illustrated September/October 1994 Submitted By DIANE LAZARUS On 12-27-94

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