Vegetables for vitality: glossary of salad greens

Green salads are always more interesting, more flavourful, and more nutritious when you combine the shapes, textures, hues and tastes of several varieties. Here is a glossary of salad greens:

• Arugula has several rounded and spiked leaves jutting from stems.
• The peppery flavour becomes stronger with age.
• Arugula can be eaten raw or added at the last minute to stir-fries.

• Belgian endive is a tightly closed head of smooth leaves with a slightly bitter taste.
• The whitish creamy leaves are the result of its not being exposed to sunlight during growing.

• Butterhead is a category of lettuces that form small heads with soft leaves (like Boston or Bibb).
• The heart is tender and the leaves have a mild flavour.

• Curly endive, or chicory, has leaves tapering to sharp points.
• Outer leaves are lacy and green-rimmed; inner leaves are pale yellow.
• The flavour is slightly bitter.

• Iceberg is a tight-head lettuce that looks like a type of cabbage.
• It has pale green leaves and a mild flavour.

• Lollo rosso is dark copper red fading to bright green.
• The leaves are crisp and finely crinkled, with jagged edges resembling lace.
• They have a refreshing taste.

• Mache, lamb's lettuce or field salad, is high in beta-carotene, with tender, round leaves and a mild flavour.
• Sold with its roots still attached, it is highly perishable and should be used right away.

• Mignonette is a loose-head lettuce with small, soft leaves that have a mild flavour.
• It is available in green and red varieties which look attractive mixed in a salad.

• Oak leaf is a loose lettuce with thin, tender reddish-brown or green scalloped leaves.
• It has a distinctive mild, nutty flavour.

• Radicchio comprises a tight head of crisp leaves which are a vibrant red or reddish-purple with white veins.
• The very bitter flavour works well in a salad of mixed leaves.

• Romaine is a loose-head lettuce with sturdy, rich green outer leaves, paler green inner leaves, and crisp ribs.
• It has a mild tangy flavour.

• Although watercress is a popular salad vegetable, it's not actually a lettuce, but rather a member of the high-nutrition cruciferous vegetable family.
• It has small dark green leaves and a pungent, peppery, mustard-like flavour.
• The best-quality watercress is available in spring and has small leaves and thin stems. It is also available at other times of the year.
• Do not buy watercress with flowering stems.
• Use in soups and as a garnish.

Now you know how to incorporate a ton of difference greens into your everyday salads to make them more exciting and tasty. Who says salad can't be a main course dish?

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