Delicious Lettuce Varieties
Batavie and Heirloom Lettuces, Speckled Lettuce Like Red Sails
Aug 19, 2008
Salad eaters have more to choose from than iceberg and romaine lettuce. Restaurants, farmers markets, and even some grocery stores are highlighting the vast lettuce offerings. Here are some of the most beautiful and delicious lettuces available today.
Wide World of Lettuces
Red or green, curly or flat, tender or sturdy: lettuce decisions go far beyond what dressing to pour on.
- Batavia is an heirloom of iceberg lettuce, according to Katrin Newman of Oak Patch Vegetables, a family farm in Visalia, California. It’s a loose leaf lettuce has a mild flavor like iceberg, though it looks a lot different, with it’s bright green, looser leaves.
- Forellenschuss is a red speckled butter lettuce, named after a speckled trout, said Newman. She’s been growing lettuces for 18 years, so she knows how to read a leaf. It’s a soft, mild relative of butter lettuce, she said.
- Red sails is another speckled variety. It has compact, fringed heads of deep burgundy red over green, according to seed supplier Johnny’s Selected Seeds. The taste of this freckled lettuce stays mild for a long time without bitterness.
- Oak leaf lettuces, related to butter lettuce, get their name from the shape of their leaves, which have rounded lobes like an oak leaf. They come in green varieties like berenice, red leaves like oscarde and a mottled green and red called cocarde. Seed supplier Seedsavers says oak leaf lettuces are never bitter and food website theworldwidegourmet.com recommends pairing these with delicately flavored foods because of their mild flavor. They won’t overpower what they’re served with.
- Indigo radicchio is a bit bitter and has a full texture, says Newman. It’s got white veins with a red outer leaf and it’s often found in the grocery store and the farmers market. Theworldwidegourmet.com cautions that this colorful veggie will rot in an airtight container, so making sure air circulates around it will keep it delicious and fresh longer.
- Curly Endive looks similar to frisée. It’s lacy and frizzy. Medium to pale green to almost yellow, theworldwidegourmet.com advises that the darker the leaves, the more bitter they are.
- Arugula is also called rocket lettuce after the heat in its leaves. It’s got so many uses, from pesto to a topper for pizza. At its simple best it adds a spicy and somewhat bitter kick to a fresh salad. Theworldwidegourmet.com notes that when the leaves are young, they have a nuttiness to their flavor.
Taking It Home
When taking fresh lettuces home handle them gently enough that you don’t crush the leaves — this means not setting the potatoes on top of them in your bag Crushed leaves bruise easily, Newman said.
When you’re home, give them a good rinse and spin them dry or let them drain in a sieve. They don’t like to be stored too wet, Newman said. She keeps hers cold and fresh in a salad spinner in the refrigerator. She added that arugula tends to go bad faster, so she likes to store it separately.
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