Lettuce: nutrition and how to use it

Fun facts

• Lettuce was grown in ancient Egypt, and it even appears in tomb paintings. Early on, people grew it mainly for the oil in its seeds.
• 100g of green leaf lettuce has only about 15 kcal. A whole 200g plate of fresh greens comes to just about 30 kcal.
• Green leaf lettuce has 370 µg of vitamin A per 100g, plus 194mg of potassium. Darker green leaves usually carry more pigment than pale ones.
• In Vietnam, lettuce fills the fresh herb plate, wraps rice paper rolls, goes into banh mi, gets tossed with vinaigrette and is rolled into bo bia. In the kOBE recipe library, lettuce appears in 57 dishes.

Choosing and storing

Choose fresh, crisp, bright leaves that are not wilted or slimy, with no browning at the base. Unwashed lettuce in a sealed box lined with paper towels keeps in the crisper drawer for a few days to a week. If you have washed it, dry it very well before storing, since leftover water makes leaves spoil fast. Keep it away from ripe apples and bananas, which can cause brown spots.

Cooking it well

Lettuce is mostly eaten raw, so wash each leaf under running water, soak it in lightly salted water if you like, then spin or shake it completely dry so the dressing clings. Dry leaves also keep your salad from turning watery. Tossing lettuce with a little olive or sesame oil helps you absorb vitamin A, and you can find ideas in salad dressings: vinaigrette and sesame.

Frequently asked questions