What if leaf salad bitter, upsetting the hostess or her guests? Continue to eat it, not paying attention to the taste? Or do something? We will prompt a few simple and effective ways to remove unnecessary bitterness. Choose the one you like best and enjoy!
1. Understand varieties
The least bitter are those varieties whose juice green(they are obtained on the basis of the Azart, Iceberg, Great Lakes varieties ...). And those whose juice white and opaque similar to dandelion milk. Also pay attention to rough leaves - if the harvest is delayed, a bitter aftertaste appears.
- By the way, for a more detailed acquaintance, we recommend that you look at the article " Green salad- what is it like?
2. Give the salad time
If you only have a bitter variety of lettuce at your disposal, try chopping it in advance and set aside for 15 minutes before adding other ingredients. It is better to tear the salad with your hands, because. some feel that bitterness comes from contact with a metal blade. If you do not use a knife, you can avoid oxidation, and at the same time - save more vitamins.
3. Bathe him
Too bitter lettuce leaves are also recommended previously soak in cold water with a couple of drops of vinegar. Other ways: dip in warm water for 20 minutes or add to the dish itself lemon juice to neutralize bitterness. Since the salad that was watered little is made bitter, there is also a recommendation to cut off the roots and put the salad in water for a couple of hours - like flowers.
4. Make him turn pale
When growing bitter varieties of lettuce (e.g. endive, escarole, romaine) a couple of weeks before eating them bleach. To do this, simply cover the plant with an opaque bucket or thick cloth. The bitterness goes away, and the rosette becomes tasty and crispy.
5. Love him for who he is.
In fact, the bitterness in the salad may be evidence of its benefits. She is stimulates appetite And just because of it, the metabolism improves. There is no dispute about tastes - many people also like bitter salad. And if you still can’t get used to it ... now you know what to do!
Usually, all those failures that haunt us in the garden are caused by ourselves, that is, somewhere we will do something wrong, overlook or even forget to do it. And from this the plant does not receive the care it needs, and therefore their fruits and taste can be completely bad. Here, the lettuce has no fruits, but leaves.
- One of the reasons for the bitterness of leaf lettuce is that you watered it poorly (when it was actively growing), that is, there was not enough water for it. This is often why he gets angry.
- It is possible that you didn’t make a mistake with watering and watered the salad correctly, but they didn’t remove it during the time. If this is the case, then the lettuce leaves begin to slowly coarsen and bitterness appears again. So only cut the lettuce at the right time if you don't want to eat the bitter leaves. It will take 4-50 days after its sowing and it will need to be cut off. Usually at this time there are already 5 or 7 leaves on the leaf lettuce. It is in this phase that it needs to be cut. In order for the very moment of leaf ripening to come a little later, the garden bed will need to be thinned out. When shoots appear, then all of them should not be left. You should have 5-6 centimeters between adjacent shoots of lettuce. Everything else is just thrown away. When lettuce grows freely like this, it ripens later and, accordingly, the appearance of bitterness can also be postponed.
- In addition, it is usually in green lettuce that bitterness appears, so you can experiment with varieties and plant several of them. Also, if the beds with lettuce are constantly lit by the sun, then the appearance of bitterness in the leaves is also quite possible. It is better to shade the beds, or sometimes change the location of these beds.
What to do if the lettuce leaves are still bitter?
It is possible that you have already made some mistakes, and you did not manage to save lettuce leaves from bitterness this year. What to do then? Everything, just throw out the whole crop?
- You will always have time to throw away this “inedible” greenery, but you should not rush here. It is quite possible to get rid of this bitterness.
- To remove bitterness, cut off all the roots of lettuce leaves. Then the leaves themselves are thoroughly washed and placed in a saucepan. You should already have salted water in this pot. For her, you only need a tablespoon of plain salt per liter of water. In addition to salt, you will need to throw a few ordinary ice cubes into this water, which many people have in molds in the freezer. Wait about half an hour, and then you can get the leaves out of this water. Then we blot them gently with a paper towel, and then dry them for about five minutes. Then you can use these leaves for various dishes.
- If you still have enough time before you start collecting lettuce leaves, and they are already bitter, then you can try to drive all this bitterness away from the leaves themselves, namely into the roots. To achieve this, the bundles are simply placed in an ankh where cold water is first poured. Let them stand there for 2 or even 3 hours. After that, we take out the bunches and, again, cut off all the roots. It would also be better to cut out the stems themselves in the leaves, especially if these stems are thick. So you will generally have only the most delicious and tender parts of the leaves, which will no longer be bitter.
Juicy and crispy salad like to grow on their site, many summer residents. With the right agricultural technology, you can get a good harvest several times a season.
Lettuce is demanding on soil, watering and lighting. Lettuce is planted on loose soft soils, after applying fertilizer. Immediately after germination, it is necessary to water the lettuce beds every other day, and when the rosette is actively forming, it is necessary to organize abundant watering. Lettuce is best planted in partial shade, in shady areas and under the scorching sun, it will not be able to develop properly, which means it will not be so tasty and healthy. Lettuce also develops poorly in cramped conditions. For full growth between plants, it is necessary to maintain a distance of 15-20 cm. Space is especially important for head salads, so seedlings need to be thinned out.
Olive oil or walnut oil and aromatic vinegars such as balsamic or red wine are suitable. Sauce with dairy products such as yogurt also goes well with bitter salads. A mixture of powerful oils and vinegars for bitter substances. . Often bitter lettuce varieties are mixed with other lettuce varieties to soften the bitter substances. Different determinate varieties have different bitter content: the smooth escarium is more bitter than the fine-grained, tender-leaved frieze.
Lettuce contains a lot of water and some energy. Therefore, it can help you lose weight or stay slim. Lettuce is already saturated and delivers to begin with - this is a "lean" dressing condition - only little energy. As the main court, it is well saturated with large volume and many fibers. Compared to being low in energy, lettuce also has a good nutrient density.
All types of lettuce are high in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Lettuce is a champion among vegetables in terms of vitamin K content, it also contains vitamins C, A, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, iron, iodine, zinc. At the same time, the salad is low-calorie: 100 g contains only 12-14 kcal.
There is a wide variety of varieties of salads, all of them are divided into head and leaf. Most varieties have a delicate spicy taste, but salads with bitterness are not uncommon.
Since the raw lettuce is eaten, heat-sensitive vitamins and minerals are better preserved. But lettuce should be as fresh as possible and should only be washed for a short time. The relatively low sodium and high potassium content of most varieties is also beneficial for metabolism.
More information about making salads
How to combine salads
Particularly fresh, nutritious and low in nitrate, this is a local lettuce from outdoor cultivation. Mixing different varieties salads bring many benefits: the salad looks beautifully colorful - the eye also eats with you. More nutrient-dense varieties, such as ice or lettuce, are blended with more nutritious varieties, such as field lettuce and radicchio. During the winter months the best choice are classic winter varieties such as field lettuce, endive, chicory or radicchio.Causes of bitterness of lettuce leaves
- Sort. Salad varieties: Iceberg, Romaine, Moscow Greenhouse, Ballet, Zabava - crispy, juicy and without bitterness. The leaves of such varieties as: Frisse, Radichio, Lolo Rossa, Arugula, Watercress are slightly bitter.
- Age. Young lettuce has a mild taste. Overgrown lettuce has a more pronounced grassy taste, is able to accumulate a small amount of the alkaloid lactucine in its leaves. Its presence can be determined by the milky juice at the break and bitterness in taste. Alkaloids are part of many drugs, and in nature they are found in the family of poppy, nightshade, legumes, ranunculus.
- Season. In the spring, even varieties with bitterness will have a pleasant taste. In summer, especially in hot sunny weather, the leaves quickly accumulate bitterness.
Can we also use wild herbs?
Other varieties are often only available from the greenhouse and often have higher nitrate values. In addition, bio-products are usually less contaminated with plant protection products and nitrates. Rare or wild varieties add flavor to salads. These include dandelion, watercress, watercress, winter purslane, nasturtium, sorrel, and wild salads such as French herbs, chamomile, robe, nettles, dead white nettle, or gerbil. Wild herbs are almost always richer in valuable ingredients than cultivated plants.
Many believe that the cause of bitterness is insufficient watering of the salad. Practice shows that watering is more important for the growth and formation of the plant, and for taste qualities almost no effect.
What to do if lettuce leaves are bitter
- Choose varieties without bitterness.
- Under the influence of direct sun rays lettuce leaves quickly accumulate bitterness, so it is better to place the beds in partial shade or between rows.
- A week before harvesting the lettuce, cover the plant with a thick cloth to protect it from the sun. This method will allow you to get rid of the bitterness characteristic of many varieties.
- Collect lettuce in the early morning, preferably before sunrise. At this time, the salad has a more delicate taste.
- When collecting young lettuce leaves, make sure that the lettuce does not outgrow, does not release arrows. Lettuce can be planted throughout holiday season with an interval of 2-3 weeks, although spring plantings will still be the least bitter.
- To get rid of bitterness, you need to hold the leaves, preferably together with the roots, in cold water. For varieties with thin delicate greens, a dry method is suitable: cover the leaves with salt for 15-20 minutes, then rinse.
- Eating lettuce with bitter leaves will not harm your health. If you want to soften the bitter taste, mix the leaves with cottage cheese, feta or ricotta, eggs, yogurt or sour cream.
How to make a good salad dressing?
However, wild herbs, you should only collect the appropriate botanical knowledge and in places that are hygienically safe. A dressing can improve a salad nutritionally or physiologically, or the opposite. Many ready-made dressings contain a lot of fat, which turns the salad into a calorie bomb. Look for the label: ingredients are listed by weight. The first ingredient is also included in most.
For homemade bandages, you have the ingredients at your fingertips. Especially suitable are cold-pressed vegetable oils, especially canola and olive oil, which provide healthy fatty acids. In the article. While you can make a thousand salads without using a single lettuce leaf, the truth is that this vegetable is one of the undisputed protagonists of many summer dishes, so now that we're at that time is the perfect time to give an overview of other salad types for salads and what are their properties.
Garden lettuce is a leader among other leafy vegetables. Especially tasty and pleasantly fragrant salad in the spring. But what is a summer barbecue without lettuce, or sandwiches? You can wrap meat, vegetables in a salad and, of course, make all kinds of salad dishes even in summer.
The benefits of salads are a separate issue. The leaves contain a large amount of vitamins: C, K, carotene, B vitamins, as well as a number of minerals: calcium, iron, phosphorus, potassium, copper, iodine and others.
Leaf lettuce has a beneficial effect on the liver, pancreas, kidneys and cardiovascular system. It will help maintain good vision and can even protect against Alzheimer's disease.
Lettuce contains a lot of fiber and in general, lettuce is a low-calorie product. Therefore, the salad improves the functioning of the metabolism in the body and helps to lose weight.
In addition, lettuce is included in the diet for diabetes, atherosclerosis, stomach ulcers and high blood pressure.
However, overripe leaves acquire a bitter taste and lose their pleasant smell. There are also some varieties of lettuce that are bitter on their own. It is better to grow varieties that have green juice, those with milky juice are usually bitter. Varieties without bitterness include: Frillak, Bacardi, Cricet, Embrys, Remus, Iceberg, Lollo Rossa.
In order for the salad not to be bitter, it is necessary to water it regularly and plentifully. Feeding with a high magnesium fertilizer also helps the lettuce grow sweet without bitterness.
And one more secret: you need to cut the salad not in the heat of the day, but in the early morning or late evening.
If, nevertheless, bitterness is felt, such a salad must be bleached.
To do this, it is placed under an opaque dish - a saucepan, a bucket and left for 3-5-7 days before cooking. During this time, the bitterness completely disappears, and the bleached crispy salad rosette becomes tastier and healthier. You can also remove bitterness from overripe lettuce. Before removing the bitterness of their salad, it must be washed and cut off the roots. After that, the leaves are placed in a deep plate or bowl and filled with cold water.
For the best effect, you can add ice to the bowl and leave everything to stand until the ice melts. After that, the lettuce leaves should be removed and put on a towel so that they dry well. This helps to get rid of half of all the bitterness and give the leaves a fresh taste. In addition, after such processing, lettuce leaves begin to crunch well.
Another way allows you to distill the bitterness from the leaves themselves into the roots. For this you need a glass of water. Lettuce leaves are placed in it with the roots down. So they should stand for at least two hours. After that, the leaves must be removed and cut off everything except the sheets themselves. The roots and stems will be bitter, but the leaves will not.
And yet, we cut the leaves into a salad in advance, and let stand separately for about 15 minutes, and then mix with other ingredients.
Types of salads
There are milder and sweeter, bitterer, spicier, or more oily flavors, because despite being called lettuce by everyone, we can find different tastes and textures depending on the variety chosen. From small buds to intense escarole, let's take a stroll through the most common salads we find in our markets.
Iceberg lettuce: round and compact, reminiscent of cabbage. The texture is very crunchy and the taste is very very smooth, so this is usually the salad most liked by those who don't like salad. It is the least nutritious of the bunch and although it is used quite a lot in salads, it is also very suitable to be part of sandwiches and burgers. Its thick, crunchy leaves allow for heavy sauce-based seasonings such as mayonnaise or rose sauce.
Juicy and crispy salad like to grow on their site, many summer residents. With the right agricultural technology, you can get a good harvest several times a season.
Lettuce is demanding on soil, watering and lighting. Lettuce is planted on loose soft soils, after applying fertilizer. Immediately after germination, it is necessary to water the lettuce beds every other day, and when the rosette is actively forming, it is necessary to organize abundant watering. Lettuce is best planted in partial shade, in shady areas and under the scorching sun, it will not be able to develop properly, which means it will not be so tasty and healthy. Lettuce also develops poorly in cramped conditions. For full growth between plants, it is necessary to maintain a distance of 15-20 cm. Space is especially important for head salads, so seedlings need to be thinned out.
All types of lettuce are high in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Lettuce is a champion among vegetables in terms of vitamin K content, it also contains vitamins C, A, B vitamins, potassium, magnesium, iron, iodine, zinc. At the same time, the salad is low-calorie: 100 g contains only 12-14 kcal.
There is a wide variety of varieties of salads, all of them are divided into head and leaf. Most varieties have a delicate spicy taste, but salads with bitterness are not uncommon.
Causes of bitterness of lettuce leaves
- Sort. Salad varieties: Iceberg, Romaine, Moscow Greenhouse, Ballet, Zabava - crispy, juicy and without bitterness. The leaves of such varieties as: Frisse, Radichio, Lolo Rossa, Arugula, Watercress are slightly bitter.
- Age. Young lettuce has a mild taste. Overgrown lettuce has a more pronounced grassy taste, is able to accumulate a small amount of the alkaloid lactucine in its leaves. Its presence can be determined by the milky juice at the break and bitterness in taste. Alkaloids are part of many drugs, and in nature they are found in the family of poppy, nightshade, legumes, ranunculus.
- Season. In the spring, even varieties with bitterness will have a pleasant taste. In summer, especially in hot sunny weather, the leaves quickly accumulate bitterness.
Many believe that the cause of bitterness is insufficient watering of the salad. Practice shows that watering is more important for the growth and formation of the plant, and almost does not affect the taste.
What to do if lettuce leaves are bitter
- Choose varieties without bitterness.
- Under the influence of direct sunlight, lettuce leaves accumulate bitterness faster, so it is better to place the beds in partial shade or between rows.
- A week before harvesting the lettuce, cover the plant with a thick cloth to protect it from the sun. This method will allow you to get rid of the bitterness characteristic of many varieties.
- Collect lettuce in the early morning, preferably before sunrise. At this time, the salad has a more delicate taste.
- When collecting young lettuce leaves, make sure that the lettuce does not outgrow, does not release arrows. Lettuce can be planted throughout the summer season with an interval of 2-3 weeks, although spring plantings will still be the least bitter.
- To get rid of bitterness, you need to hold the leaves, preferably together with the roots, in cold water. For varieties with thin delicate greens, a dry method is suitable: cover the leaves with salt for 15-20 minutes, then rinse.
- Eating lettuce with bitter leaves will not harm your health. If you want to soften the bitter taste, mix the leaves with cottage cheese, feta or ricotta, eggs, yogurt or sour cream.
Why is lettuce bitter? Why is lettuce bitter?
- the greens were overexposed (it is better to sow the salad in several stages with an interval of 2 weeks);
- too much sun (the most favorable conditions are partial shade);
- insufficient watering (greens love a lot of moisture).
Surely everyone who grows lettuce in their beds has come across that lettuce leaves become bitter over time. That's it WITH TIME. This is the main reason why lettuce leaves are bitter. The more the salad lingers in the garden, the more it begins to taste bitter.
Hence the conclusion: lettuce should be consumed while it is young, and in order to have fresh produce all the time, it must be planted at intervals of 2-3 weeks. But also throw away old lettuce should not always sometimes bitterness can be removed (see here).
But lettuce's age isn't the only reason for its bitterness. Often we ourselves help him to acquire inedible qualities with inappropriate care. For example, poor watering at the time when he was gaining weight, actively growing, and not enough water was given.
If lettuce plantings are placed in places constantly lit by the sun, then it begins to taste bitter earlier than those that are shaded during periods of the hottest sun.
Another reason for bitterness due to improper agricultural practices is thickened plantings. Be sure to follow the recommendations for placing lettuce in the garden, printed on the package with seeds.
And finally, often the taste of a salad depends on its variety. The properties of the salad are also described on the packaging.
I plant lettuce every year, although, to be honest, I don’t know why. We hardly eat it, so it almost stays with us in the garden. Usually I plant purple curly among other plantings, it decorates the garden bed, standing out in color among the greenery. Since we don’t eat it much, I know that if you don’t pick it in time, then it will start to taste bitter. The bitterness in the salad is a sure sign that he has sat too long in the garden. Therefore, it is recommended to plant it several times during the summer, so that it is always fresh and tasty.
Leaf lettuce begins to turn bitter when it outgrows, so that there are always fresh lettuce leaves, it must be sown at intervals of a couple of weeks. It is good to grow head lettuce, it forms a small loose head, the leaves are very tasty, crispy, sweet. Such a salad, after the plants sprout and grow a little, must be threaded, leaving 8-10 centimeters between each plant. The uprooted plants can be eaten like regular lettuce leaves. I always plant iceberg lettuce early. There are modern lettuce varieties that are less bitter, I plant Lolo Rosa and Lolo Bienda. Lettuce may start to taste bitter due to poor watering, the plant is moisture-loving and does not like this plant too much sun. it is best grown in partial shade.
I've only tried a salad once. Then we bought seeds and planted them. It grew beautiful and green. I don't remember what it tasted like, but it was nice.
Then they forgot about him. They didn’t water it, but in general it rained very often then, but the salad tasted unbearably bitter. It seems that it can only be eaten when it is still young, or it is due to improper care.
For example, cucumbers are bitter due to insufficient watering.
It is better to plant really little by little and with a weekly difference. To eat had time and did not overgrow.
Bitterness appears in the salad with age, therefore, it must be sown at several times, collecting only the earliest leaves. A possible cause of bitterness may be lack of moisture at the time of its active growth. If you made mistakes in watering, then it grew without enough water, which led to bitterness.
Another possible reason for the bitterness of lettuce leaves may be the wrong place for the salad. If he stays all day under the open sun, bitterness may appear. It is better if the beds with these plants are part of the daytime in the shadow, and if this is not possible, then the salad should be shaded.
As practice shows, leaf lettuce begins to bitter over time, that is, bitter, for example, lettuce leaves that bloom. That is why it is recommended to plant lettuce several times a season so that there is always fresh greens on your table.
The salad may also start to taste bitter due to insufficient watering, and the salad is very demanding for watering.
Lettuce leaves have become bitter only for one simple reason, they have outgrown the edibility phase, it lasts a certain period, then the leaves begin to outgrow and bitterness appears, and then in general the lettuce goes into the phase of flowering and seed ripening. Therefore, lettuce is sown in several stages with a difference of 7- 10 days, the only way to get young lettuce.
If the salad began to taste bitter, then this may be due to several reasons:
