Maundy Thursday is spinachtag

Easter is high season for spinach – especially for creamspinat. Because as the iglo trend studies* show, spinach is a fixed starter on Maundy Thursday in around a third of the Austrians, around a quarter is flexible. Therefore, before Easter there is also a spinach high season in the supermarkets, especially when it comes to frozen spinach.

Iglo spinach: 3200 tons from the Marchfeld

The most popular frozen spinach in Austria comes from Iglo. The spinach is grown and harvested in the Marchfeld. 3200 tons of spinach from sustainable cultivation are processed into iglo creamspinat, iglo leaf spinach or iglo of happening spinach per year. What many do not know: harvested twice a year – once in spring, once in late autumn. The harvest -free spinach is frozen all year round.

Easter is high season for frozen spinach

As far as the sale of frozen spinach is concerned, the high season in the supermarket before Easter. At IGLO, around 44 percent of the annual sales with spinach are generated during this time. “Although Maundy Thursday has nothing to do with the color, the Austrians are very traditional on this day,” knows Ines Franke, Managing Director of Iglo Austria. Franke continues: “As our Iglo trend studies show, a third of the people always eat spinach on Maundy Thursday, sometimes a quarter. The most popular is creams with potatoes and fried egg.”

5 million packs of Iglo spinach are sold every year **

For a whole year, the Austrians buy around 5 million packs of iglo spinach per year. The Iglo creamspinat with around 3 million packs is the most popular product, followed by the iglo leaf spinach (around 1 million packs) and spinach (around 900,000 packs) of Iglo. As Franke explains: “In recent years, almost six out of ten creamspinat packs sold in Iglo’s Austrian food retail have been very pleased and shows that we score in addition to regionality, especially with receptive products with quality and taste.”

The fresh resource: frozen spinach holds up vitamins

But there are not only points for the taste, but also for vitamins and nutrients of the frozen spinach. Because frozen vegetables in general and spinach in particular benefit from the rapid processing and the low temperatures. As in a fresh resource, vitamins, aroma and nutrients are optimally preserved. While fresh spinach has already traveled a long trip to the supermarket and gradually breaking down vitamins, the iglo freezer spinach comes from the field into the pack within a few hours.

Frozen spinach: from the field to the package

The journey of the Iglo spinach from the field to the pack can be found in the appendix as a picture history. Selected video and images of harvesting and production in the Marchfeld (Copyright Iglo Austria) are available for download from the link below.

Recept inspirations for spinach can be found here:

Sources:

* iglo trend study 2023 (Integral; February and March 2023, N = 1,015 Austrians from 18 to 69 years of age representative) and Iglo trend study 2021 (March 2021, N = 1,000 Austrians from 18 to 69 years representative)

** All data on TK spinach (except harvesting): Nielsen, Leh including discount, excl. TK-pizza/tarts/desserts and ice cream, fy 2024