Do You Know Your Artisan Lettuce?
Jan 21, 2014
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Despite the snow, extreme cold and school closings, nothing could keep me away from my appearance on Indy Style (an Indianapolis Lifestyle/News Show) this morning! Did you see me? As usual, I had a blast! Indy Style is such a fun show and I was so honored to be featured again!
For the first segment, I put show co-hosts, Andi Hauser and Tracy Forner, on the spot with a little test about lettuce. I brought five different types of artisan lettuces to see if Andi and Tracy could identify them.
The lettuces for the quiz were all from one of my favorite produce suppliers—Tanimura & Antle. One of the things that I love about this grower is that they package their product right in the field! That means that you get the lettuce sooner (and fresher) than you would if they were to ship it to another facility for packing. It also means that your food goes through less handling before you get it.
Here’s a picture of the Tanimura & Antle folks at work. Pretty cool, huh?
Artisan Lettuce Varieties
So are you ready to take the lettuce quiz to see if you can do better than Andy and Tracy? The first one is easy.
What type of lettuce is this?
It’s Romaine Lettuce! Did you get it right?
How about these? These are like brother & sister. They’re very popular for Deli’s to put on sandwiches.
These two are Green Leaf and Red Leaf Lettuce.
This one is a bit harder. You see this sometimes in salad mixes. It has a slightly bitter flavor and tastes great with a lemon vinaigrette or some type of protein like cheese or meat. Do you know what it is?
It’s Endive! Extra points if you knew that one.
Ok, here’s the last lettuce. This one is similar in flavor to Endive but it has a less prickly texture.
This is Escarole!
So how did you do? Let me know in the comments below. Don’t feel bad if you didn’t know many! Andi and Tracy just knew the Romaine, but they were such good sports!
While I was there I also shared this simple Artisan Greek Salad recipe. It’s a Tanimura & Antle family recipe! When I’m watching football with friends, I like to serve this salad inside pita bread so people don’t have to mess with forks and bowls!
Try out this recipe for the Big Game and let me know what you think! You can see the entire Indy Style segment here!
Stay tuned for the next blog post featuring my second segment on Indy Style. Learn how to make a snack mix buffet with items all found in the Produce Department!
Xoxo,
The Produce Mom
I got Endive and Escarole backwards but other than that…I know my lettuce.
Every time I eat the Artisan blend, I think of my mother. When it first started
becoming popular in restaurants, my mother would say “I want this salad but
I don’t want any of that grass stuff (alfalfa sprouts) and I don’t want the
lettuce to look like you just took some clippings from the bushes.” It always
makes me smile.
You call Chicory (endive). What do you call endive? I understand they are both in the same family, but the taste and texture are completely different.
Hi Daniel,
There are a handful of Chicory leaf items, Belgium Endive is one of them. Also Radicchio, and Sugarloaf.
The Endive that is part of this blog post is not a chicory – it’s a different plant species. Hope this helps! I agree with you – they all taste different, but they all offer great flavors & lots of nutrients!
Thanks for reading,
Lori
There was some prickly lettuce in the artisan package. It looks like a weed to me and its not on your pictures. It looks like the leaf will stick you. I’ve never seen this one before I hope it was edible
Hi! Thanks for your comment! I’m guessing it was one of the Petite Tango varieties. There are many varieties of lettuce, and this blog posts highlights the following:
1) Romaine
2) Red & Green Leaf
3) Endive
4) Escarole
You can learn more about Tanimura & Antle’s Artisan Lettuce, and the Petite Tango variety on this webpage:
http://www.taproduce.com/trade/featured-product-detail.php?id=25