It's also adds satisfying crisp, cool texture when shredded and stuffed into tacos, subs, and fried fish sandwiches. How to use it: Its small stature means the leaves are ready to be tossed whole into a salad. The butterhead lettuce has soft, buttery-textured leaves forming small, loosely-folded heads,... 3. Describe the differences among varieties of commercially produced head lettuce. 1. Let’s take a look at the different types of lettuce and some excellent varieties in each category! 2). "Load up your meals and snacks with more produce — all types of lettuce, leafy greens, and cruciferous veggies, like cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, Bok choy, and Brussels sprouts — to reap the best benefits for both health and flavor.". There are dozens of lettuce varieties, and seven main types of lettuce: looseleaf, butterhead, romaine (cos), buttercrunch, Batavian, heading, and Chinese. Mix leaf lettuce (Black-seed Simpson or Oak Leaf) with crisp lettuce (romaine or other crisphead) and accent with fresh herb leaves. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement (updated as of 1/1/21) and Your California Privacy Rights. The leaves are crisp, sweet, and sturdy. Keep it simple. Characteristics: Pronounced "rah-dick-ee-yo," you can find this deep-red-purple vegetable sold either as a compact round head, as pictured above, or shaped like its relative, endive. Lettuce makes an incredible addition to my indoor garden and homegrown salads. The Boston variety has small, round, and loosely formed heads with soft, supple leaves that bruise easily. There are dozens of lettuce types, and they fall into five categories: Batavian, butterhead, iceberg, loose leaf, and romaine. Romaine Salad With Rye Crisps and Lemon-Pecorino Vinaigrette. In fact, these lettuce varieties can contain higher amounts of certain nutrients than cabbage does (14, 15). A head of Boston lettuce resembles a flowering rose. Versatile baby spinach packs in powerful, heart-healthy nitrates that can help improve cholesterol and reduce your risk of chronic disease. The small jagged edges that make mizuna look like miniature oak leaves add a lot of texture. Some different types of this lettuce are: Brown Golding, Chaos Mix II black, Chaos Mix II white, Devils Tongue, Dark Green Romaine, De Morges Braun, Hyper Red Rumple, Little Leprechaun, Mixed Chaos black, Mixed Chaos white, Nova F3, Nova F4 black, Nova F4 white, Paris Island Cos, Valmaine, and Winter Density, all of which mature within around 70 days. It can be a stand-alone salad green, or mixed with other chicories or sweet lettuces. Two or three lettuce varieties are good for both taste and texture. Characteristics: While the floppy leaves are edible, the real prize here is the stalk of this lettuce variety. Different types of lettuce are used most often for salads but they show up in recipes for everything from soups and sandwiches and wraps. Whether you're using them raw or cooked, though, different types of lettuce can add quite a bit of texture and flavor to whatever you're making. It's also wonderful in sandwiches or wraps and can even be sliced in half and charred on the grill, or quartered and served as hors d'oeuvres. Different Types of Lettuce with Examples. 12 Best Types Of Greens And Lettuce To Add To Your Salad 1 Mustard Greens. Iceberg is crisp and hearty, but it's not as flavorful as other lettuces. Butterhead lettuce. Characteristics: These curled leaves tinged with yellow and green are slightly bitter in taste, have a crunchy stem, and add a lot of texture. Not too long ago, some of these greens were deemed fancy or hard-to-find, but they have made their way into the mainstream and can now be found at local grocery stores and farmers markets. Most lettuce varieties mature within 30 to 60 days, with leaf lettuces maturing earlier than head types. Good leaf lettuce selections for Florida include 'Black-seeded Simpson', 'Red Sails' and many Salad Bowl varieties. Mizuna has a relatively strong, spicy flavor when compared to other salad greens, but its flavor won't overpower a dish. 18 Types of Lettuce and the Best Ways to Eat Each One 1. 2) Oakleaf Lettuce: “Oakleaf lettuce appears to have myriad vitamins and minerals in high supply compared with other types of lettuce,” Hunnes says. Characteristics: Coral is a looseleaf variety and can be bright green, deep red, or speckled. Alternate name/varieties: Batavia lettuce, leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, Redina. Because of the small size of the leaves, trying to create a whole salad with a base of mâche can be expensive. Their uneven ruffled surfaces add layers of texture to salads. For clarification's sake, types of lettuces can be generally placed in one of four categories: looseleaf, butterhead, crisphead, and romaine. It's larger and fluffier than Bibb, but both types of lettuce make perfect cups for cooked ground chicken or shrimp. Epicurious may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. They're also great puréed into soup (yes, soup); and the broad, tender leaves combined with the sturdy rib make for exceptional lettuce wraps. But depending upon the variety of lettuce that you are growing, the nutrients may also defer. You'll mainly see this lettuce as … Now romaine calm and lettuce us walk you through the produce aisle: There are three types of leaf lettuce: red, green, and oak. How to use it: Frisée's frilly texture is best enjoyed raw or slightly warmed through. Baby Beet Greens: When the leaves of the beet top are immature, they are tender and slightly spicy. "Different types of lettuce have varying levels of specific nutrients," explains Jaclyn London, MS, RD, CDN, Nutrition Director at the Good Housekeeping Institute. The leaves are creamy-white on the... 2. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Condé Nast. This variety received a lot of attention last year as the subject of multiple recalls due to E. coli contamination. Its leaves are also very delicate and will bruise easily, so handle with care. ‘Jerico’, ‘Valmaine’, and ‘Paris Island’, commercial standard varieties, were chosen as industry controls. Characteristics: A type of head lettuce, the leaves of Boston and bibb lettuces are soft. A relative of radicchio, endives easily scoop up toppings with their spoon-shaped leaves or shine solo when roasted with olive oil and a little balsamic vinegar. Purple-colored radicchio (pronounced "rah-dick-ee-yo") can taste bitter fresh but sweeter when grilled or roasted. List the top head lettuce producing regions in the U.S. 3. Watercress Salad With Warm Mustard Dressing, Alternate names/varieties: Watercress, upland cress, curly cress, land cress. Both have a soft “buttery” texture and a sweet, mild flavor. Lettuce is low in calories and full of antioxidants, water, dietary fiber and essential nutrients. There are two types of leaf lettuce here based on their color: green leaf lettuce and red leaf lettuce… Instead of a generic looking and tasting salad, you can make something interesting to eat and look at. It has curved, overlapping leaves forming crispy, round heads. The shape of an arugula leaf is similar to oakleaf lettuce, with rounded edges that undulate from broad to slight. Look for firm, densely packed heads that are heavy for their size. Ithaca Iceberg Lettuce The texture is similar to that of baby spinach, and one can be swapped for the other. Be sure to wash all forms of cress thoroughly, since they often grow in sandy ground. Bibb, on the other hand, is sweet and extra small (a head is the size of a fist)! Head or crisp-head lettuce are varieties Can You Guess Your State's Most Distinctive Food ? Characteristics: Originating from the Mediterranean, this green tastes earthy and slightly tart with a bold,... 2. Sold in bunches, mature watercress has a tough, fibrous stem and small green leaves (the stems of baby watercress are generally more tender). It's also quite expensive — at least twice the price of iceberg. What they all share is loose leaves that are attached together at the base. You can also serve the leaves whole, or sliced in salad. This is the most-commonly known lettuce of all varieties. This is the lettuce originally used when the Caesar salad was created. Characteristics: This large leafy lettuce is stiffer than most; a thick center rib gives it a real crunch. Because the leaves are so large, it's best to tear them up into bite-size pieces for salad. 13. Tatsoi (aka tat soi, spoon cabbage, rosette bok choy): The small, rounded leaves of this salad green have a mild, mustardlike flavor. This multi-pack of medicinal plant seeds contains the following varieties: Wild Lettuce (Lactuca virosa), Tall Blue Wild Lettuce (Lactuca biennis), Prickly Lettuce (Lactuca serriola). A blazing blend of rich red and purple varieties, this lettuce blend is likely the most colorful, flavorful and nutritious selection on the market. When wilted, the veins become brighter in color and a little bit sweeter. "For example, spinach is higher in iron than kale, but kale provides glucosinolates, compounds that may decrease your risk of certain cancers. Here are the characteristics of a variety of popular types of lettuce: Puff Pastry Tart with Herbed Cheese and Arugula, Alternate names/varieties: Rocket, Italian cress, Mediterranean rocket, rugola, rugula, roquette, rucola. The bright coloring makes it stand out. Lettuce varieties fall into two main categories, says Susannah Ball, Product Development Manager at PanAmerican Seed. When unwashed and stored in a plastic bag in the fridge, you can keep it for up to two weeks — twice as long as most other types of lettuce. How to use it: This delicate, tender lettuce acts a great bed for other ingredients and won't compete with other flavors. And as this variety's name implies, the texture of a butter lettuce is indeed smooth like butter. Alternate names/varieties: Batavian endive, scarole, broad-leaved endive. The purplish-red veins are visually striking and can dress up any salad. But the nutrients that you mix depend upon the plant that you are growing. There are seven main cultivar groups of lettuce, each including many varieties: Leaf – Also known as looseleaf, cutting or bunching lettuce, this type has loosely bunched leaves and is the most widely... Romaine /Cos – Used mainly for salads and sandwiches, this type forms long, upright heads. Baby tatsoi is usually sold loose, but when mature, tatsoi can be purchased whole, in the shape of a rosette, and it is often cooked intact in stir-fries. Characteristics: The shape of this butter lettuce's leaves are similar to that of the oak tree, thus, its name. They may have a bright red rib with a web of red veins shooting out to the sides. How to use it: For lovers of bitter lettuce, this essential chicory is crisp and velvety when eaten raw. Alternate names: Sucrine, Sugar Cos, baby gem. Twenty-nine varieties of Romaine lettuce were selected for field evaluation in November 2013 (Fig. The next time you go grocery shopping, you’ll likely come head to head... 2. If you do plan on cooking them, be sure to make it a quick sauté or wilting; anything else will cause the delicate greens to lose their unique characteristics. (Homemade kale chips, anyone?). Red leaf has a burgundy tint and mild flavor, similar to that of green leaf, while oak leaf is spicier and nuttier. Bibb is the more expensive of the two and is often sold in a plastic container to protect the delicate leaves. The sturdy, crisp leaves have tight, frilly curls and a mild flavor. Many of these salad greens are also easy to grow yourself; for seeds and seedlings, consult your local gardening supply shop or an online source such as Burpee. The mild flavor of fresh lettuce leaves are well complimented by fresh or dry herbs. Menu Welcome Lettuce also can be planted throughout the month of January. 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