How to Buy and Store Lettuce So It Lasts Longer
By Janet Rausa Fuller, Epicurious
We’re swimming in salad over here. It’s hard not to with so many leafy greens at our disposal.
Of course, salad doesn’t have to be leafy—quinoa, beans and potatoes, we’re looking at you—but there is no denying the cool, satisfying crunch of lettuce.
How then to maximize that crunch, given lettuce’s inherent fragility? We rounded up some good advice from Salad Samurai author Terry Hope Romero, and Jeanne Byrne, a farmer and chef who lives near California’s Salinas Valley, the so-called Salad Bowl of the World.
Related: 14 No-Stress Ways to Cook Salmon
It all starts with choosing the freshest head. From there, your eating habits will dictate how you store your greens. Just remember: Salad days don’t last forever, and neither does lettuce.
WHAT’S YOUR TYPE?
Lettuce falls very broadly into two categories: leaf and head. Within each camp, there are many varieties. Some are delicate, while others can withstand a turn on the grill.
Looseleaf lettuce forms in clusters with frilly or wavy leaves. Crisphead lettuce is round, with tightly packed leaves—think iceberg. Romaine forms an upright, elongated head with a crunchy center, while butterhead, a.k.a. Boston or Bibb, has a smaller, looser head and tender leaves.
LOOK FOR ‘LIVELY’
Choose the best looking, least wilted lettuce you can, with “lively and firm” leaves, Romero said. Take a look at the stem end, too. It’ll brown and dry out with age, said farmer Jeanne Byrne, who with her husband Stephen Pedersen runs the 40-acre High Ground Organics in Watsonville, California.
“If it’s just been cut, it’ll be moist and oozy,” she said. “We try to cut early in the morning and get it right into the cooler.”
WILTING HAPPENS
Theories abound, and sometimes contradict, as to how best to store lettuce. Wash first or leave unwashed? Wrap with paper towels or don’t bother?
Before we even cross that bridge, keep in mind that lettuce is mostly water. Wilting is inevitable once cut. Such is lettuce’s life. It just isn’t meant to stick around for too long—and it’s going to taste best the sooner you eat it. For Romero, that’s within two days.
SO, WASH FIRST?
Depends on how much time you have when you get home.
If you’re in a hurry, shake off any water, remove any bands at the base, wrap the whole head loosely in paper towels and place in a plastic bag with air to breathe. Store in the vegetable drawer or another cool (but not the coldest) part of your fridge.
If you have the time, separate the leaves and then wash and dry—really dry—them before storing. A salad spinner makes quick work of this process, but you can do just as well with a big bowl of water and paper or kitchen towels. If you’re a salad-a-day eater, you’ll be glad you did this all at once.
CRUNCH TIME
A sturdier lettuce should keep at least five days stored whole as described above, a more fragile a day or two less. You’ll likely lose the outermost leaves to wilt, said Andrew Cohen, chef-in-residence for the Monterey Bay Certified Farmers Markets and recipe developer for High Ground Organics.
Romero swears by those green produce bags; with them, she doesn’t even bother wrapping her lettuces in paper towels.
Cohen finds he gets the most mileage—up to 10 days—by storing the washed and dried leaves in a paper towel-lined container, with a paper towel resting on the greens under the lid to keep moisture at bay.
Then again, just because you can keep lettuce around for that long doesn’t mean to have to.
“Each lettuce has a different, subtle flavor,” said Cohen. “After a while, you lose those nuances.”
Ready to eat? See our full list of Salads That Deserve Your Full Attention.
More from Epicurious:
14 Main Course-Worthy Vegetarian Salads
20 Must-Try Ways to Pair Items You Already Have In Your Pantry
15 Foods on Sticks That Are Everything Great About Summer
12 Lightning-Fast Chicken Dinners to Make Now
PHOTO: MICHAEL GRAYDON & NIKOLE HERRIOTT
