Everything you need to know about salad and leaf greens

Cалат и листовая зелень

Greenery - green upper parts and young shoots (grass) of plants used to make salads, add to soups, to quench meat, etc.

In modern Russian and Russian cuisine, dill, parsley and green onions are most often used for greenery - that is, those green herbs that are seasonings. Also in Russian cuisine, sorrel, coriander, nettle, celery leaves, garlic shoots, salad are used.

Do not underestimate the useful properties of green salads and perceive them only as decoration of festive dishes. These juicy leaves contain vitamins of all groups, a large number of microelements (iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium), digestible proteins and fiber, and there is absolutely no fat.

Lettuce Salad

Салат латук - Cалат и листовая зелень

Delicate curly leaves grow rosette and have a slightly pronounced unleavened taste. They are easily deformed and quickly fade, so lettuce is used fresh, tearing the leaves with your hands, refueling with light sauces based on olive oil. This is one of the most ancient kinds of lettuce, many kinds of leaf salads are its direct descendants.

Lettuce head

Латук кочанный - Cалат и листовая зелень

The leaves look like ordinary lettuce, but they are collected in small round cabbage-shaped headdresses. Leaves of lettuce are very tender, so they do not cut, but tear with their hands or even put in a dish entirely.

Iceberg, ice-salad

Айсберг, айс-салат - Cалат и листовая зелень

By appearance resembles small dense heads of cabbage with light green leaves. Scientifically, this head of lettuce is called crispheads - "crunchy heads", and, indeed, the iceberg is very crunky. Salad does not have a pronounced flavor, so it blends well with the spice varieties of greens. It was taken out by farmers in California in the 1920s, a delicate salad was transported to neighboring states, pouring out heads with crushed ice, hence the name "ice salad" Or "iceberg".

Romaine, romano, roman salad

Ромэн, романо, римский салат - Cалат и листовая зелень

Large loose elongated heads up to 30 cm long with very crisp white-green leaves. The taste of the leaves of the Roman salad is slightly spicy and very juicy, the salad well regulates water metabolism and raises the level of hemoglobin in the blood.

Chicory salad

Цикорий салатный - Cалат и листовая зелень

Juicy white-yellow or greenish leaves, collected in oblong heads 15-20 cm long, have a bitter taste. Chicory is grown in the dark so that the leaves remain light; The greener the leaves of chicory, the more bitterness there is in them. It suits perfectly with spicy herbs, and the shape of dense leaves resembles boats, so they are often used as a plate for salads.

Radicchio, red chicory

Радиччио, красный цикорий - Cалат и листовая зелень

Small heads have a color from white-pink to dark-violet and dark red with white veins. The leaves look very decorative, they are used fresh, mixing with other varieties of salad. The taste of radicchio is bitter enough, so it is suitable for filling with honey, citrus or fruit juice.

Endive, Frize

Эндивий, фризе - Cалат и листовая зелень

Cabbage salads with a specific bitter taste. Wide-leaf endive is called escalol, it is similar to the taste of its ancestor - chicory. Frize is a curly endive, with very beautiful carved leaves. Cultivates all varieties of endivia in the dark to increase the production of a special substance called "intibin", which gives the leaves a bitter taste and improves appetite. While the lettuce is growing, its leaves are tied together to keep the core tender and light, and the tips of the leaves acquire a bright shade. Delicate bitterness and fresh taste of endive and frieze are combined well with citrus, garlic.

Oaklif, oak salad

Оаклиф, дубовый салат - Cалат и листовая зелень

This variety got its name because it looks like oak leaves. There are varieties with green and red-green leaves. Gentle slightly nutty taste of this salad should not be hammered too spicy dressings. Salad is perfectly combined with avocado. These leaves are very tender, they should be consumed immediately, because they quickly fade.

Lollo Rosso, red lettuce

Лолло-россо, красный латук - Cалат и листовая зелень

This Italian sort of lettuce is created on the basis of lettuce, but its curly leaves have a bright colored color in the green-burgundy range. The taste is quite intense with a slight bitterness.

Lollo Biondo

Лолло биондо - Cалат и листовая зелень

Another green leaf lettuce, this descendant of lettuce is similar to lollo-rosso, but the leaves are white-green, they are collected in loose rosettes. These leaves have a slight bitterness, perfectly combined with refueling with lemon juice.

Frillis

Фриллис - Cалат и листовая зелень

Leaf salad, very similar to lettuce, but with corrugated leaves with sharp tips. It is often sold in pots, as delicate crispy leaves quickly fade. You can use the freeelis in all recipes instead of the iceberg.

Korn, field salad, mash salad

 - Cалат и листовая зелень

These small dark green leaves with a light shine, collected in small "roses", in ancient Rome were considered an aphrodisiac. They have a delicate aroma and a light spicy and slightly tart taste, which goes well with onions, nuts, citrus.

Cress salad

Кресс салат - Cалат и листовая зелень

In appearance and taste it is similar to the root, but its leaves are smaller, and the taste is piquant and sharper. It is unclear who and for what reasons came to mind to call him "the bug-picker", but it was under this unappetizing name that he was known in Russia. In fresh form, garden cress is added to salads.

Ruccola

Руккола - Cалат и листовая зелень

The leaves of the arugula look like dandelion greens. The most delicious young leaves, which are torn in the spring and early summer, they give salads and snacks a piquant taste with a nut-pepper shade. Spicy leaves with sourish-sharp taste and a large content of mustard oils have long been popular in the Mediterranean region, they are perfectly combined with tomatoes, garlic.

Chinese cabbage

Пекинская капуста - Cалат и листовая зелень

This plant belongs to the cabbage family, but is often used as a salad. There are head and leaf forms. Heads with juicy crispy leaves with a neutral taste are used in salads in combination with other greens.

Dandelion

Одуванчик - Cалат и листовая зелень

Only young leaves are used for food, which have a bitter taste and combine well with neutral salads and vegetables. Walnut oil or lemon juice is suitable for filling.

Spinach

Шпинат - Cалат и листовая зелень

Young leaves of spinach are very tender and almost tasteless, and mature leaves acquire a dense structure and a pleasant light taste. Freshly, these crispy leaves are used in salads, cocktails, with nuts.

Sorrel

Щавель - Cалат и листовая зелень

Young leaves can be added to salads along with spinach, fragrant herbs, fresh vegetables.

Chard, beetroots

Мангольд, листовая свекла - Cалат и листовая зелень

A variety of beets, in which edible are the stems and leaves, and not the rhizome. This ancient plant was cultivated in Babylon, it has very decorative rosettes of large colored leaves of even or wavy form. Young leaves are added to green salads.

Pak-choi, Chinese cabbage

 - Cалат и листовая зелень

It is a relative of chard, popular in Asian cuisine. The cabbage consists of thick juicy leaves with a white base, which to taste resembles a Peking cabbage, but more juicy and pungent, and dark green tips with a tart taste. The tips of the leaves are torn, and the white part is cut with straw and seasoned with spicy, spicy sauces.

Salads in cooking

Do not underestimate the useful properties of green salads and perceive them only as decoration of festive dishes. These juicy leaves contain vitamins of all groups, a large number of microelements (iron, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, selenium), digestible proteins and fiber, and there is absolutely no fat.

In 100 grams of salad contains only 13 calories! Ideal product for those who care about health and protects the figure. And if you think that the green salad is boring, look at this chic assortment, turn on the imagination and experiment, because all kinds of salads perfectly match with each other and dozens of other products! A wonderful company for salads - fresh vegetables, nuts and seeds, citrus fruits.

Via econet.ru