Preserving lettuce

My Mum used to put a saucer in the bottom of the lettuce bowl in the fridge so that water from the washed lettuce drained away and sat under the lettuce.

I don't buy mixed greens as there's a lot of destemming I have to do to make it edible for me. I know you can eat the stems, but I don't wanna!

I bought 2 heads of romaine the other day, trimmed/deribbed them, put them in a Ziploc with a paper towel on top/bottom, sealed it airtight (yeah, not supposed to do that). It makes it easier/simpler to get people to eat it when I prep it. I don't do anything with iceberg. That shizzle will LAST.

I bought Rubbermaid Produce Saver containers and they're amazing for fresh produce, including lettuce, spinach, kale etc

I don’t go to that extent, but I do put a paper towel in the bag

Another plug for whole romaine lettuce having great shelf life.

This time of year I get mixed greens from my garden. Swiss chard, lettuce, Scotch kale, red Russian kale, and soon Malabar spinach.

Farmers market greens (local farms) keep much longer/better for me than the same plant from the grocery store - dramatically so. I assume it's because the picking/processing/transit time is taken to the minimum (compared with anything but home garden).

Usually, I eat it up faster than this, but I've had a bag of farmers market loose spinach leaves keep at salad-useable quality for as much as 3 weeks, just in a plastic bag in the fridge. Grocery store spinach has never, ever come close.

I use the green veg bags, they work a treat for all fruit, salad etc. the I just rinse them and use them again next time...

stanmann571 wrote: »

I'll tell you what we did when I worked food service.

Ice water dunk. It's loss of moisture that causes wilting, so you want more moisture not less.

Isn't done just b4 service to crisp and freshen up the greens?

Don't think it makes much sense to store lettuce/greens in an ice bath for a week or more at home (or even in a restaurant for that matter) which is what I thought this thread was about.

sgt1372 wrote: »

stanmann571 wrote: »

I'll tell you what we did when I worked food service.

Ice water dunk. It's loss of moisture that causes wilting, so you want more moisture not less.

Isn't done just b4 service to crisp and freshen up the greens?

Don't think it makes much sense to store lettuce/greens in an ice bath for a week or more at home (or even in a restaurant for that matter) which is what I thought this thread was about.

Some greens do better stored standing with the cut end(s) in a small amount of water, though not immersed in an ice bath.

This is certainly true for certain cut herbs (parsley, cilantro, basil) - standing them in a glass with a small amount of water in the bottom, loosely covered in the refrigerator, usually works well. (Well, basil keeps poorly mostly no matter what, but that's a different discussion - in a glass of water seems the least worst ). Roots-on hydroponic butterhead lettuces would probably be happy this way. I suspect it might work well with something like a head of romaine, too, but I haven't tried it. Loose leaves, probably not so much.

Lounmoun wrote: »

The issue I have with ready to eat packaged salad mixes is not it drying out and wilting but being wet and slimy.
Not sure if that is the OP's issue or not.
Buying salad greens whole I am not having any issue keeping it nice for well over a week.

Bagged salads are just funky. Any bagged vegetable for that matter. They go slimy incredibly quickly because there's no air circulation to whisk away condensation. I also have a feeling that they're not terribly fresh when bagged at the factory.

I just wrap the head of romaine or leaf lettuce in a paper towel, stick it back in the bag, and try to get as much air as possible out of the bag. I plan my week's meals so that I use the stuff with the shortest shelf life earlier in the week.