Salad Greens Category

Salad Greens

These are usually eaten raw, but they can also be stir-fried or steamed. They vary in nutrients, ranging from superfoods like kale, spinach, and beet greens down to arugula, butter lettuce, and the lowly iceberg lettuce, which has been described as little more than crunchy water.

Wash these and dry them (with a spinner or towels) before using, since moist leaves repel oil-based dressings. Store salad greens in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator.

Varieties:

arugula, arrugola, eruca, garden rocket, Italian cress, Mediterranean rocket

With its peppery and slightly bitter flavor, arugula is a terrific green to throw into an otherwise boring salad. It can be gently braised, too. Some supermarkets sell it in small bunches, but you're more likely to find it combined with other greens in a spring salad mix.

Belgian endive, Belgium chicory, blanching chicory, chicon, chicory

These crunchy, slightly bitter leaves are often used to make hors d'oeuvres, but they can also be chopped and added to salads, or braised to make an exquisite (and expensive) side dish. Select heads with yellow tips; those with green tips are more bitter. Their peak season is the late fall and winter.

Bibb lettuce, limestone lettuce

This butterhead lettuce has delicate, loose leaves and lots of flavor. The only downside is that it's usually expensive.

Boston lettuce

This is a type of butterhead lettuce, with soft, tender leaves. It's terrific in salads and sandwiches, or the leaves can be used as a bed for other dishes.

butterhead lettuce, butter lettuce

butterhead lettuce

This category includes Bibb lettuce and Boston lettuce.

corn salad, doucette, fetticus, field salad, lamb's lettuce, mache

Corn salad has tender leaves and a very mild flavor.

cress, curly cress, Garden cress, land cress, upland cress

This is a peppery green that's great in salads, sandwiches, and soups. It's attractive enough to make a good garnish as well. There are several varieties, including watercress, upland cress, curly cress, and land cress. Cress is highly perishable, so try to use it as soon as possible after you buy it.

curly endive, chicorée frisée, chicory, chicory endive, curly chicory, frise

You can use this crisp, bitter green in salads or cook it as a side dish. The outer leaves are green and somewhat bitter; the pale inner leaves are more tender and mild. Don't confuse this with Belgian endive, which the British call chicory and the French call endive.

dandelions, dandelion greens

Dandelions have a somewhat bitter flavor, which Europeans appreciate more than Americans. Older dandelion greens should be cooked; younger ones can be cooked or served raw as a salad green. They're available year-round, but they're best in the spring.

endigia, red endive

This crunchy new French variety blends sweet and bitter flavors.

endive

This category includes Belgian endive, curly endive, frisee, and escarole.

escarole, Batavia, Batavian endive, Bavarian endive, broad-leaved endive

Escarole has sturdy leaves and a slightly bitter flavor. Young escarole leaves are tender enough to add to salads, otherwise escarole is best cooked as a side dish or used in soups.

green-leaf lettuce

green-leaf lettuce Learn more

iceberg lettuce, cabbage lettuce, crisphead lettuce, head lettuce

iceberg lettuce

This is prized for its crispness and longevity in the refrigerator, but it's a bit short on flavor and nutrients.

leaf lettuce, bunching lettuce, cutting lettuce, lechuga, looseleaf lettuce

With their crispness and mild flavor, these lettuces are great in salads and sandwiches.

lettuce

These are mild salad greens that are always served fresh, either in salads or as garnishes. There are four basic categories: iceberg lettuce, with leaves that grow in a dense "head," leaf lettuce, with loosely gathered leaves, butterhead lettuce, with tender leaves that form a soft head, and romaine lettuce, with closely packed leaves in an elongated head. Select lettuce that has rich color and crisp, fresh-looking leaves.

lollo rosso

This mild, tender lettuce has ruffled red edges.

mizuna, Japanese greens, Japanese mustard greens, kyona, spider mustard

Mizuna has tender leaves and a pleasant, peppery flavor.

oakleaf lettuce, oak leaf lettuce

oakleaf lettuce

Oakleaf lettuce has crunchy stems and tender leaves. There are red and green varieties.

radicchio, chioggia, red chicory, red Italian chicory, red-leafed chicory

With its beautiful coloring and slightly bitter flavor, radicchio is wonderful when combined with other salad greens. You can also use the leaves as a base for hors d'oeuvres, or sauté them for a side dish. The most common variety, radicchio rosso (left), is round, while the treviso radicchio is elongated.

red mustard, brown mustard, Chinese mustard, Indian mustard, leaf mustard

This has a pungent, peppery flavor that adds zip to salads. You can cook it, too.

red orach, French spinach

red orach Learn more

red-leaf lettuce

red-leaf lettuce Learn more

romaine lettuce, cos

romaine lettuce

Romaine combines good flavor and crunch, plus it has a decent shelf life in the refrigerator. It's the preferred green for Caesar salad. Green romaine is the most common variety, but you can sometimes find red romaine, which is more tender.

spring salad mix, field greens, mesclun, spring mix

spring salad mix

This is a mix of different young salad greens. Commercial mixes usually include arugula, mizuna, tat soi, frisee, oakleaf, red chard, radicchio, mustard greens, and radicchio.

tango

This mild green lettuce has ruffled edges, which makes it an interesting salad lettuce

taratezak Learn more

tat soi, Chinese flat cabbage, spoon cabbage, spoon mustard

This has an interesting spoon-like shape and a peppery flavor.

trefoil, Low hop clover

Named for the three leaves that sprout from each stem, trefoil has a crunchy texture and aromatic flavor. It's great in salads or as a garnish in soups.

watercress, yellowcress

watercress Learn more

winter purslane, Cuban spinach, Indian lettuce, miner's lettuce, spring beauty

winter purslane

This resembles ordinary purslane, only the leaves and stems are smaller and more delicate.