Lettuce

Seasonality

Varieties

Varieties we grow and love:

• Romaine- Long, somewhat puckered leaves with crunchy midrib, classic for Caesar Salad; we grow green and super dark red!
• Boston- soft, buttery green leaves form a beautiful head
• French Batavia- green or red, crispy texture holds up for all purposes
• Simpson- very soft, frilly green, loose leaf variety. Mild flavor
• Walman’s- crisp, very frilled green leaves
• Oakleaf- green or red loose leave with deeply lobed leaves
• New Red Fire- bright red, tightly frilled, loose leaf; great body for salad

Storage

As always, fresh produce is most delicious and nutritious when consumed as close to the harvest date as possible.

Lettuce is no exception! For best keeping, rinse carefully, shake or spin dry, keep in plastic in coldest part of fridge (but not where it can freeze). Dry air is not a friend, but wilty lettuce can be revived with a good cold water soak. If your lettuce is ready to go, it is far less likely it will stay in storage long enough to spoil. Plan on using lettuce within the week.

Culinary Info

– can be enjoyed in:

• SALADS!
• as a wrapper for sandwich or other fillings
• we stuff every sandwich with lots of lettuce (which is easy to do when it is prepped and waiting in the fridge)

Tips for preparing: All greens benefit from a brief soak in lightly salted water (small creature let go). Many of your greens have not been sprayed with any chemicals (organic or otherwise) so sometimes you might see small pin holes.. Drain, rinse and spin dry. If you take care of all your greens when you get them, you will be more likely to use them. I keep mine washed and dried, loosely in a bag in the fridge.

Also check out these great recipes:

Lettuce packets

Lettuce soup