Where to source salad

Eating Chicken

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On this YouTube video, Jamie Oliver makes mention of the leaves to put in a salad. He states that which comes in bags is convenient but makes for an inferior product. He then mentions something called "salad head."

Does he literally just mean buying fresh lettuce and other produce as opposed to the bagged stuff? If I bought some lettuce would I be able to make multiple salads for week instead of using some of it for a salad, storing the rest in the fridge and risk it going off?
 
Does he literally just mean buying fresh lettuce and other produce as opposed to the bagged stuff? If I bought some lettuce would I be able to make multiple salads for week instead of using some of it for a salad, storing the rest in the fridge and risk it going off?

Yes indeed. The lettuces which keeps best, I find, are 'little gem' and Romaine (sometimes called Cos). So, not the soft leaved varieties. However, of the soft leaved salad leaves, I find rocket (usually sold in packets) keeps quite well. Some supermarkets are also selling 'growing salads' which are literally that - planted in little punnets that you can put on your windowsill and pick the leaves as you need them.

Another lettuce which keeps well is Iceberg - its very crisp but doesn't really taste of much!

I'll copy over some images so you know what to look for.
 
Here we go...

Little Gem:
120625011_0_640x640.jpg

Romaine (Cos)

cos-lettuce.jpg

Rocket:
120660011_0_640x640.jpg

Iceberg:
289818011_0_640x640.jpg
 
Does he literally just mean buying fresh lettuce and other produce as opposed to the bagged stuff?
If I were to guess, I'd say it's because a bag of lettuce can contain leaves from several heads. Some of those heads could be fresh, and others might have been sitting in the bin for a while. As a result, some of the leaves will decay faster than others, which in turn causes the good ones to go down as well. The same sort of thing happens in meat packing: you see a pile of beef at the butcher, and you don't realize that it could be from several different animals.

So, buying a whole head means that everything in that head is the same age, so the flavor and everything else should be consistent, too.
 
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