Your magic, healthy and green supplements that invoke the much needed crunch in burgers, sandwiches, and salads are the lettuce. These fresh leaves often come in different colours and form the perfect bedding for your sandwich fillers, or salad seasoning. However, when you start working with lettuces, you realise they are very short lived. And wilted ones never really add anything to the flavour. Here are six ways in which you can prolong the lives of your lettuce bunch and use it fresh for your many meals.
There are six easy ways to preserve lettuce using regular kitchen items. Keep these handy whenever you want to store lettuce for a long time.
Towel dry: One of the basic hacks to remove excess oil or water is the towel soak. Use a thin muslin cloth or a kitchen towel and place it on top of the lettuce. This will soak the excess water from the leaves. Remember, this does not mean that the leaves will become dry; it will only mean that the leaves will retain as much moisture as is required by them.
Wrap in aluminium foil: Once you have removed the excess water from the lettuce bunch, you can wrap it with aluminium foil. Foil is used to preserve very many items in the kitchen and lettuce falls in that list as well.
Air-filled zip-lock: When you store lettuce leaves in zip-lock bags or containers, make sure that air is in contact with the leaves. This helps in sustaining it for a longer time.
Freeze the lettuce: If you plan to use lettuce leaves for frying purpose or baking some snacks, then you can freeze them beforehand. Take your regular ice-cube boxes, place the lettuce leaves and freeze them. Or place the bunch inside a zip-lock bag and freeze it in the deep fridge. This will keep them frozen fresh for a longer time and you can take them out and use it as required.
Keep away from organic chemicals: Certain organic food items like bananas, apples, tomatoes, peaches etc produce a chemical called ethylene. This comes in contact with the lettuce and speeds up the process of wilting.
Submerge in water: Since, lettuce thrives on its water content, you can also preserve it in cold water. Place lettuce bunch in container and fill it with cold water. Change the water every 2-3 days to avoid bacterial attacks.
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