About Red Leaf Lettuce

• One of hundreds of lettuce varieties, red leaf lettuce is loose-headed with soft, buttery leaves tinged with red
• It has a mild, watery flavor
• Because lettuce is so fragile, it is handled as little as possible and generaly hand-harvested and field-packed into cartons.The heads are cut and trimmed to 4 or 5 wrapper leaves and sometimes individually sealed into film or plastic bags. They are then vacuum cooled to remove field heat and subsequently stored in a cold room

Selecting

Choose heads with crisp leaves, free from blemishes and any sign of browning or wilting.

Storing

Keep lettuce cool, to prevent the leaves from wilting and discoloring. It may be stored in plastic bag or airtight container for a few days or more in the refrigerator, depending on the variety. Avoid storing lettuce with fruit that produce the natural ripening agent ethylene, such as apples, pears and bananas.

Eating

Rinse lettuce just before serving in very cold water and then pat dry. Limp leaves can be revived by immersing in ice water for a few minutes. The vitamin content increases from the inner to the outer leaves of head lettuce. The greener the leaf, the more nutrients it contains. The cut stalk shows if the head is fresh and turns dark brown when the head is stored for a long time.

Availability

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

Growing regions

 Throughout Europe