Keep Your Lettuce Fresh Longer By Following These 3 Tips!
To celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, and in honor of my Mother, (who loved this day), I am submitting a post on Greens. 🙂
I eat a lot of greens. They’re good for you. I buy one bunch of green leaf lettuce every week, along with fresh spinach and, depending what I have planned on the menu for that week, many times a third green.
A big challenge, since we have been married, has been trying to get Poo to eat it them too. He’s never been a “salad eater ” but, it hasn’t stopped me from tying to get him to comply. We are making progress 🙂
Until I took my cooking class, I had always brought my lettuce home and threw it in the crisper in the same bag that I put it in when I bagged it in the produce department. I only washed it as I needed it, meal by meal. If you do that too, listen up. There is a better way.
Lettuce: A cultivated plant, occurring in many varieties and having succulent leaves used for salads.
There is a way to store your fresh, uncut leaf lettuce to make sure that it stays fresh and crisp all week-long, and longer!
Because I eat so much of that bunny food, the lesson from my cooking class on selecting, cleaning and storing your greens was enlightening.
3 Tips for selecting, cleaning & storing your fresh leaf lettuce:
1) Pay attention to the bottom of the core. Choose the freshest bunch of lettuce by looking at the core. The freshest bunch will have the “whitest” looking core. The more discolored the core, the longer it’s been sitting there. Select a crisp head with the least amount of damaged leaves and one that feels heavy when you pick it up, (which means it has retained its water).
When I bought this head of green leaf lettuce, the core was white but, I didn’t get around to cleaning & storing it for a few days.
Try not to buy them discolored at the store.
2) Let the leaves soak in a cold bath for 30 minutes. Cut the core or pull the leaves off, one by one, and place them in your kitchen sink filled with cold water. Let them soak for 30 minutes. Gently swoosh them around in the water to remove any remaining dirt and lay them out on a clean towel or paper towels. Alternately, use a salad spinner and lay out. Pat dry.
When you pull them out of the sink to dry, you will notice a significant difference in the feel of the leaves. They will feel stiff and sturdy.
By soaking them in cold water you have just added any water that they lost in the transportation process and extended their freshness.
3) Store in a container, separating layers with paper towels. Pat lettuce leaves dry and lay them in a storage container made for lettuce. I lay the leaves side by side with the stems in opposite directions to maximize space. With the larger leaves, I can only get two side by side.
Health Benefits of Lettuce:
- low-calorie
- arsenal of phytonutrients
- rich source of vitamins K, A, C & B-complex
- plentiful amount of minerals
Don't just eat your greens on Saint Patricks day, eat them everyday!
“What is more refreshing than salads when your appetite seems to have deserted you.” – Alexis Soyer
xoxo, Katy