What kind of lettuce?

[lindag]

Iceberg lettuce seems to have fallen out of favor but I still find I want it for certain things like my shrimp louie as well as  sandwiches.  For a long time I used mainly romaine (mostly because it keeps to much better than iceberg).

Now I switch back and forth.

What's your preference?

[FrogPrincesse]

You are talking about general lettuce preference, right?

 

I really love the more delicate types like French butter lettuce and little gem lettuce (sucrine). Delicious flavor, slightly sweet, and a nice crunch. Wonderful for salads.

[Martin Fisher]

Buttercrunch is a favorite of mine. 

Developed by George Raleigh at Cornell University. 

And an All America Selection for 1963.

[ElainaA]

Hasn't iceberg staged something of a comeback as "wedge" salad? Or has that already come and gone again?

 

We have salad at least 5 nights of the week with dinner. For most of the year I use mainly romaine and red leaf lettuce, both generously mixed with endive and radicchio. During the relatively brief growing season I go lettuce crazy - I have seeds of 12 different varieties waiting to go into the ground. I particularly like oakleafs (panisse is my favorite) and butterhead - I'm growing both green and red varieties of both. I like batavias (also called summer crisp) too. I never see any of these varieties in groceries here - only in the summer in farmer's markets. But then I have my own.   Interesting lettuce year round is one of the best reasons I can think of for a heated greenhouse. Sigh. 

And, @DiggingDogFarm, I agree - I always grow buttercrunch. 

[blue_dolphin]

For the last 5 years, I've gotten lettuce in my CSA box every week.  It keeps very well since everything is picked just the day before delivery so I usually enjoy having a few varieties on hand.  

I think my favorite is "Lollo Rossa" lettuce because of the way each leaf has tender, curly red tips that gradate to crisp, light green bases.

[Wayne]

 

I have to agree with ElainaA concerning having a greenhouse to extend the season for lettuce/green growing. I usually grow about  5-10 varieties and can have lettuce from mid-May until the plants bolt and a replant in late summer. Otherwise I'm stuck with grocery store varieties and quality. As with most things I grow I concentrate on what is not normally found in food stores.

 A favorite are Forellenschuss cultivars of romaine and butterhead. Taste great but it is their colouring that is striking.

Both appear in the photo below in a mixed bed (photo from early June last season).

 

 

 

 

[Panaderia Canadiense]

I'm a Red Oaktag and Crespa kind of gal myself.  The Oaktag both for its striking shape and deep burgundy colour - it's a bit more bitter than most green lettuces but I'm the kind of person who will happily eat a plate of nothing but raw radicchio and endive provided there's a vinaigrette involved; the Crespa for its superior crunch, sweet flavour, and dressing-holding capacity.

 

I'm also kind of sad about the disappearance of Iceberg up in North America.  It's widely available and widely used here in Ecuador, as are gigantic heads of (far superior) Buttercrunch.

[naguere]

I do like the French Butter lettuce , but in France they are heavy and solid (in a nice way) whereas in England they are of a few leaves and not very substantial.

 

It's not often you get the chance to use 'whereas'.

[rotuts]

in the past Ive grown > 15 different types of butter head lettuce.  some interesting ones require the seed to be on top of the soil as light activates it.

 

it requires misting etc.

 

In NE it get hot and humid and the lettuce is prone to bolting

 

I discovered shade cloth:

 

http://www.gemplers.com/shade-cloth

 

I love this store.  consider their catalog.  50 % shade cloth, with an AM and after noon watering prevented bolting in my area  :

 

 

I used to get all sorts of interesting things at Gemplers that were not easily available at that time.  this was of course before the WWW and that picture had to be

 

scanned as it was before digital cameras.

 

works greats, lasts forever.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

16 hours ago, Panaderia Canadiense said:

I'm also kind of sad about the disappearance of Iceberg up in North America.  It's widely available and widely used here in Ecuador, as are gigantic heads of (far superior) Buttercrunch.

 

PanaCan,

 

Iceberg hasn't disappeared or diminished up here in NA at all. It's still cheap and ubiquitous everywhere, but it has fallen out of favor among those with "sophisticated palates".  I still love it and will be using it tomorrow for dinner.

 

I didn't get a chance to thank you before they locked your last wonderful food blog, so thank you so much for putting forth the time and effort to take us along on your amazing food adventures last week!

[pufin3]

Last night I made a chinese dish using rough chopped iceberg lettuce.

 In a medium hot wok add 2T refined coconut oil or other cooking oil 4T fine chopped garlic cloves. When the garlic is just lightly browned add 1/2 head of rough chopped iceberg lettuce and stir fry for a couple of minutes. The lettuce will barely wilt. Add in a sauce made with 1T light soy sauce/1T sugar/1/2 t salt/1T sesame oil/1T Shaoxing wine (I found a bottle in Chinatown Victoria yesterday).

 The dish was DELICIOUS!!!!!

The lettuce was still nice and crunchy.

[gulfporter]

We stopped buying lettuce several years ago.  

 

We buy either arugula or watercress now that they are more readily available.  I guess our taste buds have changed as we age, as we really prefer the 'bite' of these greens over any lettuce.  We use them for our 'regular' salads as a side to almost every meal.  Often we 'dress' them with just a drizzle of balsamic reduction and nothing else.  

 

We also throw either of them into omelets, stews, soups and other hot meals.    .  

 

And we always top our delivery pizzas with fresh arugula and everyone who tries it, starts doing the same thing.  

And as an added bonus, watercress now tops the list of "superfoods"....see this link

http://time.com/2827608/41-superfoods-ranked-by-how-healthy-they-are/

Edited March 31, 2016 by gulfporter (log)

[naguere]

Fixing a lettuce salad yesterday, i went out in to my garden and picked a few dandelion leaves, they add a lovely bite.

 

[Franci]

Sucrine, love it! Difficult to find it here.

I like Romaine for crispiness but we like bitter vegetables. In my salad there are often rocket, frisee, hearts of escaroles and all kinds of radicchios, watercress, endives.

When I'm in Italy sometimes I eat "soncino", mache, that I usually eat with boiled eggs.

And something I also miss is cicorino that was very common in my maternal grandmother house, very typical in Lombardy. It's really bitter. We slice it very thin and soak in water to loose a little bit of bitterness and then dress with a oil and wine vinegar, on the sharp side, and plenty of salt.