Why do they call it romaine lettuce

Characteristics: They have a mild flavor and are very pliable, despite the crunchy stem. Their uneven ruffled surfaces add layers of texture to salads. How to use it: Looseleaf lettuce can go wherever you want it to go. Because the leaves are so large, it's best to tear them up into bite-size pieces for salad. Alternate names: Field salad, lamb's lettuce, corn salad, field lettuce, fetticus. Characteristics: Sometimes sold with its soil still attached, this salad green imparts a mild and slightly sweet flavor to a salad.

Its leaves are also very delicate and will bruise easily, so handle with care. Characteristics: Mesclun is not a specific type of lettuce, but rather a loose mix of tender baby lettuce leaves.

The mix might contain any number of lettuce varieties, as well as baby spinach or other baby greens. How to use it: Pre-packaged mesclun mixes can be hit-or-miss ; so if you're looking for a variety, it might be best to choose a few different types on this list and mix them together once you're home. Characteristics: The shape of this butter lettuce's leaves are similar to that of the oak tree, thus, its name. From a distance, one could mistake it for red leaf and green looseleaf lettuce, but a closer look will reveal differences in shape and texture: this type of lettuce has leaves that are a little shorter and more squat, and the tops of their leaves have a softer texture than their red leaf and green leaf counterparts.

How to use it: This delicate, tender lettuce acts a great bed for other ingredients and won't compete with other flavors. Characteristics: Pronounced "rah-dick-ee-yo," you can find this deep-red-purple vegetable sold either as a compact round head, as pictured above, or shaped like its relative, endive.

The bright coloring makes it stand out. How to use it: For lovers of bitter lettuce, this essential chicory is crisp and velvety when eaten raw. It can be a stand-alone salad green , or mixed with other chicories or sweet lettuces. When cooked , the red-purple hue turns brown and what was once bitter becomes sweet. Characteristics: This large leafy lettuce is stiffer than most; a thick center rib gives it a real crunch.

The rib also gives this lettuce a slight bitter taste. This is the lettuce originally used when the Caesar salad was created. How to use it: Call on romaine whenever you want superior crunch from your greens or a sturdy variety that can stand up to the grill.

Characteristics: Many varieties on this list, including romaine, looseleaf, and butterhead could all come with a speckled pattern on its leaves. The bold coloring usually indicates that the lettuce in question is an heirloom or cross-bread variety. How to use it: Keep these leaves whole or tear them into large pieces and toss in a salad that shows off their unique appearance. Alternative Names: Celtuce , celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, Chinese lettuce, wosun, stalk lettuce. Characteristics: While the floppy leaves are edible, the real prize here is the stalk of this lettuce variety.

The day of 22 Germinal in the French Republican Calendar is dedicated to this lettuce. As with other dark leafy greens, the antioxidants contained within romaine lettuce are believed to help prevent cancer. As late as the mids, iceberg lettuce accounted for more than 95 percent of all of the lettuce grown in this country.

Then along came the reborn Caesar salad. Invented in a Tijuana restaurant in the s which one is a subject of a bitter interfamilial dispute , for decades the Caesar kind of limped along in all of its garlicky glory as a California specialty. By that had increased to more than 60, acres and today it stands at more than 80, Do you find picking the right espresso machine confusing?

Also WHY your espresso or coffee doesn't taste right. Helen Brown's West coast cook book. Food History Newsletter Get weekly updates in your mail box with new interesting food history articles. The leaves are typically upright and form an elongated head the top of the head may or may not close over the inner leaves , with commercial heads typically weighing approximately 0. It is also included in the supermarket sections as prepackaged romaine hearts and in a wide variety of prepackaged salads.

Although not as popular as iceberg lettuce, from to , the per capita consumption of romaine lettuce increased from 1. Romaine lettuce is typically grown under conditions where contamination with enteric pathogens Salmonella , Escherichia coli OH7, Listeria monocytogenes , Cyclospora cayetanensis , etc.

Foodborne outbreaks from contaminated, fresh leafy vegetables are increasingly being seen in many parts of the world. In the U. Since these outbreaks in the early s, additional multi-state outbreaks have occurred in the United States.

In , two outbreaks of E. A total of people across 36 states were infected with an outbreak strain of E. Investigation linked the outbreak to romaine lettuce grown in the Yuma region.

Environmental samples taken in the Yuma growing region found the E. During the investigation, romaine lettuce production and distribution was paused in the Yuma region to reduce potential exposure to the contaminated product.

Months later in October , a separate multi-state outbreak of E. Of the 62 people infected, 25 were hospitalized with two reported incidences of hemolytic uremic syndrome and no reported deaths. Whole genome sequencing of the outbreak strain found that the DNA fingerprint was unrelated to the E. Traceback investigation identified romaine lettuce as the outbreak source, linking back to the Central Coast growth region of northern and central California.

The outbreak strain was identified through environmental sampling in both water and sentiment samples at Adam Bros Farming in the region. From September to December , a multistate outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing E. A total of individuals were infected, with over half of infections resulting in hospitalizations 85 people and 15 people developing hemolytic uremic syndrome. Investigation into the outbreak identified romaine lettuce grown in the Salinas Valley of California as the contamination source.

The outbreak strain of STEC was detected in fecal-soil composite samples taken from cattle grazing lands adjacent to farms used to grow romaine implicated in the outbreak. A multistate outbreak of E. A total of 40 individuals were infected across 19 states, leading to 10 reported hospitalizations and 4 cases of hemolytic uremic syndrome. Epidemiologic investigation identified leafy greens as the probable source of the outbreak, however no specific type or brand of leafy greens were able to be identified.

Of 23 ill people interviewed, 22 reported eating leafy greens wherein 15 consumed romaine. Identifying a specific type was made difficult due to overlaps in growing, harvesting, and processing seen with leafy greens; while several farms of interest were identified, no single source was found.

Although outbreaks are cause for concern, based on pathogen prevalence surveys conducted on romaine lettuce in the marketplace see table below , the industry has appropriate safeguards in place which minimize the risk for consumers to encounter a contaminated product.

It is noteworthy that the majority of survey data only reports whether enteric pathogens such as Salmonella and E. There is rarely indication of the number present nor the virulence of the isolate, which together would affect the risk of infection if that item were consumed raw.

Variations in the methods used for detection of the pathogens in lettuce also exist with different surveys.

This data may only be signifying that a viable pathogen has been present but not whether it is still viable and able to cause illness. While shifts in market use, such as a reduction in the proportion of the head harvested for romaine lettuce hearts, negated some of the increased yields, changes in agronomic practices e.

At the high end of the temperature range, lettuce becomes more bitter, has a tendency to bolt premature flower stalk formation , and generates loose, fluffy heads. At temperatures near freezing, growth is slowed without damaging young plants; however, the outer leaves of mature lettuce plants may be damaged at low temperatures. Send us feedback. See more words from the same year. Accessed 14 Nov. More Definitions for romaine. See the full definition for romaine in the English Language Learners Dictionary.

Britannica English: Translation of romaine for Arabic Speakers. Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up.