Here’s the scoop on lettuce

Iceberg, romaine and loose leaf, Oh My!

Lettuce is lettuce, right? Um, not so much. Run to your local grocery or farmer’s market and count how many varieties of lettuce there are. Go ahead, I’ll wait.

So you counted about five, right? Eight? More? Holy lettuce, Batman! Let’s take a look at a few of the basics.

The Heads. Cabbage. A head of lettuce, a.k.a. Iceberg lettuce, is that giant­leaf, super crunchy, made-mostly-of-water lettuce that we love using on sandwiches and burgers. I like big leaves and I cannot lie. Think: chicken salad wraps. Mmmmm…

Ahh… crunch, crunch. Romaine. Romaine lettuce grows upward from it’s heart. It’s leaves are pretty big and grow tight together making them easy to chop. The perfect salad lettuce. Tough on the outside, tender on the inside. Yo, Adrian!

Did you say something? I was crunching.

What about loose leaf lettuces? This stuff is super­ easy to grow at home. Too bad you live in an apartment! Just kidding! You can easily grow loose leaf lettuce in pots.

Bonus:­ it’s pretty, too. Loose leaf lettuce varieties are the ones that are just as the name implies. They form no head or heart. They tend to be sweet and are a great source of vitamin A. Popeye loved one of the most famous loose leaf varieties. He probably snacked on arugula, too.

So, c’mon over and lettuce have a salad together!

Source: Dole