Just how many types of lettuce are there? I thought I could name them all, couldn’t you? Let’s start. Iceberg, romaine, red leaf, green leaf and butter. OK, let’s show off. How about Boston bibb, frisee, radicchio, arugula and endive? (Let’s not get into the little specialty lettuces in spring mix bags.)
So I was quite surprised with all the new types of lettuce I found while stopping at more than 70 booths at the July Produce Marketing Association Foodservice Conference in Monterey, Calif. I was on assignment to find out what was new, and it turns out, lettuce was it. As I schlepped my conference bag, camera and notebook around, I bumped into another attendee and made a comment to him about all the lettuce. “You noticed that too?” he asked. “My colleague and I noticed that, and we’re calling this “the year of the lettuce.”
I’m not sure retailers would appreciate it so much, after all, they only have so much display space for lettuce. But for foodservice operators, this must have been a true lettuce mine. For everyone’s benefit, I’ll share what I found:
· Green leaf baby lettuce mix, a hybrid between iceberg and green leaf lettuce in 3-pound packs for the same cost as a spring mix from Field Fresh Farms, Watsonville, Calif.
· Heirloom red romaine lettuce—a miniature plant, fully mature at 7 inches. The leaf has a strong texture that holds up in wrap applications, with no bitter taste from Growers Express LLC, Salinas, Calif.
· Red butter lettuce, finally worked out to eliminate the tip burn problem the lettuce type typically has. Previously, red butter lettuce has only been available from small growers sporadically in farmers markets. From Hollandia Produce, Carpinteria, Calif.
· Green leaf salad mix, which is a hybrid green leaf and romaine variety with the texture of romaine but flavor of a mix. It is meant to replace iceberg on the menu from Lipman Family Cos./Custom Pak, Immokalee, Fla.
· Salanova, a line of lettuce varieties with three times the number of leaves of a regular head of lettuce. A few of the varieties are green butter, red butter, green oak, red oak and frisee, all one-cut ready, meaning that when cored, each leaf falls off and is the same size and usable, from vegetable breeding company Rijk Zwaan, Helensvale, Australia.
· Baby romaine hearts, which grower shippers will soon be working with to have available to foodservice in 3-count clamshells as well as whole leaves in clamshells. Seeds from 3 Star Lettuce, Salinas, Calif.
· Whole lettuce filets in green leaf, red leaf and romaine. The filets come washed and ready to use in two 5-pound bags or 10-pound liners, from The Salad Farm, Salinas, Calif.
Has anyone else seen something interesting?
Jody Shee
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