Lettuce is probably one of the most frequently consumed vegetables in North America, whether in salad or as a garnish. The generally delicate taste of the lettuce family, Asteraceae (daisy), makes lettuce a favorite among those who are not particularly fond of other vegetables. Like many leafy vegetables, lettuce is best picked in the middle of its life-cycle. Exposed to hot weather, lettuce “bolts,” sending up its tall flower stalk and preparing to go to seed. At this point, lettuce leaves increase in bitterness, and the home-garden salad season comes to an end.
Lettuces grown throughout Europe and China provide a wider range of tastes, textures, and colors than American iceberg, and curiosity has fortunately broadened the lettuce palate beyond this relatively tasteless vegetable. Lettuces can be found in shades of green, white, purple and brown, each with a distinctive taste. Salad mixtures that also include baby greens such as spinach, arugula, dandelion and chicory have increased consumer enthusiasm for the cooling crunch of lettuce.
What to Look For:
1. Strong color; pallid lettuce contains fewer nutrients.
2. Firm, crisp leaves without scarring or splits.
3. A ready-to-eat-right-now overall appearance; avoid limp or tired-looking lettuce.
4. Variety: lettuces combine well with each other.
Lettuce Storage and Preparation Tips:
1. Plan to use lettuce as soon as possible, within a day or two of purchase.
2. Trim cores, discolored stems and wilted leaves before refrigerating.
3. All lettuce needs moist but not overly damp refrigerator storage.
4. Sturdy lettuces can be separated, washed, and stored wrapped in paper towels and plastic to extend storage for a day or two.
5. Delicate lettuces should be refrigerated whole and unwashed in plastic bag and used promptly.
Cooking with Lettuce:
Although much lettuce is consumed raw, in salads or as a cooling foil for the main ingredients of sandwiches, hamburgers, and tacos, lettuce is also a cooking vegetable in several cuisines. To the hot Middle West, German settlers brought the technique of “wilting” mature lettuces, dressing them with a hot vinegar-sugar-onion combination that sometimes included bacon. French cooks simmer shredded lettuce with the early peas of spring and braise lettuce in meat broth. Stronger-flavored Chinese lettuces, called “celtuce” in English, are often braised or stir-fried. The traditional American lettuce-tomato-cucumber mixed salad reflects twentieth-century refrigerated transportation; until the 1920s or later, the local lettuce crop was long-finished before tomatoes and cukes were ripe.
Lettuce Nutrition Highlights:
Lettuces provide good sources of vitamin C and vitamin A, along with folate, although these nutrients are more highly available in heartier dark leafy greens. For good nutrition, lettuce needs to be eaten in quantity. (One nutritionist dismissed the single leaf accompanying his hamburger as “water in an entertaining shape.”) Fortunately, lettuce combines very well with a wide variety of other vegetables to increase nutrition.