Last Stop on the Green Train...

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post! And make it a great day...

Third Stop: Spicy Greens - yay!

Spicy greens give salads, you guessed it, a spicy flavor. These greens are usually sold as baby greens so they are less spicy and peppery in flavor. Arugula is one spicy green that has become popular at farmer’s markets and grocery stores due to its versatility for salads, sautéed in entrees, and even baked on pizzas. If you like the spiciness that arugula adds to your food, try adding variety with amaranth, mizuna, mustard greens, or watercress. If you can’t pick just one, that’s okay. You can make your own specialty mixes at most farmers’ markets due to the increasing popularity of mixed green varieties.

Next Stop: Bitter Greens...

Let’s jump to Bitter Greens. This category includes varieties that can stand up during cooking but are also tender enough for raw salads. Some examples of bitter greens include Belgian endive, frisee, arugula, escarole, watercress, and radicchio. Chicories are often sold but as baby greens because of a strong bitter flavor that develops with age. While all of these greens can be used in salads, Belgian endive, radicchio, and some others hold up to grilling, braising, and roasting. How’s that for a twist on a regular salad?

First Stop: Mild Greens

First, let’s group salad greens into four categories: mild greens, spicy greens, chicories and bitter greens, and mixed greens.

And our first stop: our friendly iceberg and romaine who fall into the mild greens category. These are ‘crisphead’ greens but there are also Butterhead, i.e. Bibb or Boston, and leaf groups, i.e. green or red leaf. Butterhead varieties are loosely formed and round, have tender leaves, and are sweet and delicate in flavor. If you usually fall for the iceberg lettuce, try a Bibb or Boston lettuce for a crisp and flavorful crunch to your salad. These varieties provide good crunch for lettuce wraps. (Bibb lettuce wraps with lemon grilled chicken anyone?)

Ask the Chef … What You Didn’t Know About Salad Greens

If you don’t make it to the local farmer’s markets during the week, and lets face it, we’re all not perfect, you’ve probably stumbled upon the salad greens section at your local grocery store. It used to be a limited selection of iceberg, romaine, and leaf lettuces. Fast forward to today. What do you see? Sure we see our friendly neighborhood romaine and leaf lettuces, but now they’re small as well! Then, you see spicy greens, bitter greens, chicories, and herb mixes? If you’ve ever gone into a panic when trying to choose a salad mix, only to revert back to the tried and true, this post is for you.

Guess what? There are other salad greens out there! These greens aren’t just salad fluff either; they have different flavors, textures, and colors. These characteristics help boost your salad straight from mundane to extraordinary. This week we'll be taking a look at “What You Didn’t Know About Salad Greens”. Stay tuned...