The wikiHow Video Team also followed the article's instructions and verified that they work. It’s used in everything from Caesar salad to wraps and sandwiches. Once the scissors are ready, cut the lettuce leaves at 1 in. What makes this skill different is the lettuce is pretty tedious to wash leaf by leaf. Here’s how: HOW TO STORE LETTUCE | TIP #1: Don’t buy old, wilted lettuce – fresh and firm is best. Romaine lettuce is a convenient plant to buy for the garden, and one of those edible greens that thrives in a container. Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. To further preserve the plant, try to only cut the lettuce when the leaves are between 3 and 6 in. Tip: For quick clean-up, spray the feeder tube, slicing blade, and bowl with vegetable oil spray before use and rinse with water immediately after use. Bunch them together and cut both ends. All you have to do is core and quarter a head of rinsed and dried romaine lettuce, and then chop, shred, or tear it any way you like. All you have to do after that is toss the core and use your lettuce. Run the knife up to the top. Romaine Lettuce Care. This core usually needs to be carefully cut out, but that can leave the edges ragged and takes more time. This is a really easy skill to master. For the best nutritional value, romaine lettuce is best served when it's fresh, green and crisp. If you prefer a light and leafy salad, cut away the inner rib of each leaf. How to cut romaine lettuce for burgers and sandwiches? Place the leaves in a salad spinner and spin vigorously until they are dry. I also like the green color, its not to dark and you get all different shades. Leaving the stem in the ground means that your leaves will fall apart when harvested. Don’t use a blender or the in-bowl spinning blade of the food processor for shredding lettuce because instead of slicing it, it will make it mushy. Cut the bottom off the head of lettuce so the leaves separate. The first step is to prep your greens, whether that means removing the leaves from a head of iceberg, chopping spinach leaves or dicing a heart of romaine into bite-size pieces. You will want to cut it a little smaller than you would for a Caesar salad. Romaine lettuce is an unusually versatile salad ingredient. Romaine hearts are especially popular with home salad makers. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUqtyb8UBlE&feature=youtu.be&t=22, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUqtyb8UBlE&feature=youtu.be&t=24, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUqtyb8UBlE&feature=youtu.be&t=32, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUqtyb8UBlE&feature=youtu.be&t=36, https://www.thekitchn.com/a-guide-to-the-food-processor-blades-and-discs-youre-not-using-228700, https://www.americastestkitchen.com/guides/how-to-use-a-food-processor/how-to-prep-vegetables-with-a-food-processor, https://thetakeout.com/which-summer-greens-should-you-tear-snip-or-chop-1826302010, https://culinarylore.com/food-science:do-not-cut-lettuce-with-a-knife/, consider supporting our work with a contribution to wikiHow. Place the wrapped leaves in a food-grade plastic bag (produce bag) or zip top bag and keep it partially opened to allow a small amount of air circulation. There’s a myth that says if you tear lettuce instead of cutting it with a knife, it won’t turn brown because tearing is less damaging to the cells of the lettuce. You want to get it high enough that you notice all the leaf sections separate from one another. Romaine lettuce's high water content means there is no long-term preservation method suitable for making the lettuce last longer. % of people told us that this article helped them. In addition to the vacuum-packed lettuce, I prepared a plastic bag full of lettuce with a paper towel to absorb moisture. To keep your romaine fresh and keep the brown away, tend to it as soon as you bring it home from the store. You are going to need a knife and cutting board and if you have a salad spinner that will also make it simple. Wash your hands before handling romaine lettuce. If you cut romaine lettuce 1 inch above the soil level, you will get some regrowth just like described in this article, but you will not grow another full dense head of romaine. This image is not<\/b> licensed under the Creative Commons license applied to text content and some other images posted to the wikiHow website. The benefit of cutting pieces is that you will not fall into the chance of pulling out all the lettuce in the wrap in one bite. The leaves will then separate. Learn how to cut romaine lettuce. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. It combines the dark color and nutritional value of leafy lettuces with the crisp, juicy texture of head-type lettuces such as iceberg, giving it the best attributes of each type of lettuce. However, cutting as a ‘cut and come again,’ you won’t end up with that gorgeous one-piece head of lettuce. Lay the romaine heart, still whole, on a cutting board. Learn more... Romaine lettuce is one of the most commonly used types of lettuce. If it is too much to handle you can do this in 2 steps. To cut romaine lettuce, first chop the head of romaine in half lengthwise. It's medium green in color and grows up and out of the ground in tightly formed bunches rather than in heads. 1.Rinse the romaine heart under running water. Leaf lettuce can be cut as soon as it is large enough to use, usually in 50 to 60 days from planting. Do not wash or cut lettuce until you are ready to use it. I have always loved being around the grill and in the kitchen even at a young age and I always like trying different foods. They are typically cut when leaves are 3-4 inches tall or about 2 weeks after germination. If you do not have a spinner just soak the leaves in some water and agitate the lettuce and then strain it. If you have a compost bin then that is a great place to use the ends that you cut off. Required fields are marked *.

Prime members enjoy FREE Delivery and exclusive access to music, movies, TV shows, original audio series, and Kindle books. A good salad spinner will spin it almost completely dry. On Sunday, January 17, I cleaned, chopped, and vacuum-packed Romaine lettuce fresh from the store. Use a pusher to get the lettuce through the blade, don’t try to push it through with your fingers. I always use a regular knife–no plastic knife or hand tearing here because I don’t have time or patience for that. 3. Slice the lettuce the long way. Drying, canning and freezing all produce inedible results. Rinse the lettuce in a lettuce spinner or in a bowl mixing the pieces around and then straining out as much water as you can. Sometimes hand torn lettuce is better but at other times, uniformly cut lettuce is nice. Now you are ready to go ahead and cut and chop into manageable size pieces that you will put into your salad or for tacos. It also adds a nice fresh and crisp texture to the salad. We know ads can be annoying, but they’re what allow us to make all of wikiHow available for free. I recommend washing it and getting the access water off. Cut the cores out by making a triangle-shaped cut at the bottom of each half. If you do not have a spinner use a paper towel to get off some of the excess water. Then cut each half into quarters lengthwise so you have 8 thin sections of romaine. Cut the bottom off the head of lettuce so the leaves separate. wikiHow's Content Management Team carefully monitors the work from our editorial staff to ensure that each article is backed by trusted research and meets our high quality standards. This image may not be used by other entities without the express written consent of wikiHow, Inc.
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