Lettuce
About: Lettuce, (especially romaine) is leafy, crisp, and a delicious base for salads. Different lettuces have different taste so you might want to experiment and grow a couple of them. Some are mild, bitter, and some even have a peppery type of flavor. Lettuce can be soft and added as a topping or can be tougher (like romaine) and used as a base to hold hearty toppings. Which ever you decide to grow, know that it will be a good addition and something nice to have around! There are 4 well knows variations of lettuce (out of a bunch):
Romaine: This type of lettuce is also known as Cos, this variety has deep green long leaves as is crisp with a deep taste.
Crisphead: The most famouus lettuce of this variety is Iceberg lettuce. Crispheads usually have outer green leaves where as the inside leaves are white-ish, crisp, and watery when cut open. (Best to use for lettuce cups, chilled Crisphead lettuce leaves are refreshing in contrast to the warm/hot filling.)
Butterhead: Have large, loose, tender leaves that can easily be separated at the base of the lettuce. They have a sweet flavor and a soft texture. The most famous varieties of this type of lettuce is Boston and Bibb lettuce.
Leaf: This type features lcurly leafed lettuces. They can be green or red and offer a delicate flavor and crispy texture. Best known varieties are green and red.
Health benefits:
Romaine: This type of lettuce is also known as Cos, this variety has deep green long leaves as is crisp with a deep taste.
Crisphead: The most famouus lettuce of this variety is Iceberg lettuce. Crispheads usually have outer green leaves where as the inside leaves are white-ish, crisp, and watery when cut open. (Best to use for lettuce cups, chilled Crisphead lettuce leaves are refreshing in contrast to the warm/hot filling.)
Butterhead: Have large, loose, tender leaves that can easily be separated at the base of the lettuce. They have a sweet flavor and a soft texture. The most famous varieties of this type of lettuce is Boston and Bibb lettuce.
Leaf: This type features lcurly leafed lettuces. They can be green or red and offer a delicate flavor and crispy texture. Best known varieties are green and red.
Health benefits:
- Heart Healthy
- Low calorie and high water content
- Good source of vitamin A
- Good source of vitamin K
- Good source of fiber
- Want a healthier alternative to tortillas or eggroll wrappers? USE LETTUCE! Sometimes the lettuce is mild enough to not alter the flavor of the fillings, but sometimes you can use a lettuce with a stronger flavor to work with the filling. For this, Romaine and Iceberg.
- Romaine and Iceberg are good for hearty bases and stand up to lots of toppings!
- Stick them in sadwiches for an extra crunch!
- Use leftover lettuce to make a soup or stew.