Lots more Lettuce for Natural Health
6. Leaf lettuce comes in red or green and has a tender, sweet, mild flavor that really makes a great salad. Very perishable. Usually comes mixed in a pre-washed bag. I find it best to use the red leaves first as they go bad early. Lots of carotenoids in these dark colored greens.
7. Mizuna is a Japanese lettuce – bitter, but cool and curly and crispy.
8. Belgian endive, curly endive, and escarole. Belgian endive has crunchy, bitter leaves usually used to make hors d’oeuvres but can also be chopped up and added to salad. Curly endive (frisee) is a also a crisp bitter green that can be used in salads or as a side dish. Escarole should be cooked like spinach.
9. Iceberg – I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’d stay away as there’s minimal nutrition – so why bother? (See I is for Iceberg – I’d pass on It!)
These are just a tip of the iceberg (ha ha ha!) for varieties of salad greens or lettuces. There are more varieties of chard, spinach, kale, mustard greens, collard greens, cabbage, red cabbage, Napa cabbage, chicory, and on and on. Gourmet varieties are being planted, grown and harvested every day.
My favorite salad is a combination of all different kinds and colors of lettuces, some seeded cucumbers, jicama, avocado, blue cheese, cranberries or raisins, Kalamata olives and whatever else you might happen to have in the crisper of your frig!
The thing you need to know is that lettuce is good for you! Lettuce is full of fiber, low in calories, has no fat, is full of vitamins like K and minerals like iron. It tastes good and it’s pretty – so Let’s Go and Love Lettuce!
