If that pale plate of iceberg lettuce is looking a bit boring lately, put it aside and make room for some superstar salads. These delicious live foods will not only give your dishes a pop of colour; they will also give your body a nutritional advantage. Get ready to boost your health and vitality with infusions of vitamin C, folic acid, potassium, beta-carotene, omega-3s, and many other beneficial nutrients. An added benefit of all this greenery is a world of exciting new flavor adventures.
Let’s take a closer look at some of our dark and leafy friends. What better place to start than with a mega star like Kale. This strong man of the plant world has more nutrients than most other vegetables combined! He’ll give you twice your daily vitamin A needs and seven times the recommended amount of vitamin K in a single 1-cup serving. This is incredible! It is also not lacking in calcium, copper or manganese. This earthy-tasting leaf can be a bit tough when raw, but if you dress chopped kale in vinegar and oil and let it sit before adding it to a salad, it will soften. Kale is a fabulous addition to soups and stews if you prefer it cooked. No matter which way you consume it, Kale supports your blood and bones, and its rich store of minerals aids in iron absorption.
Being a southerner, this next companion is not a stranger in my house! The humble Collard Green is a much misunderstood and maligned plant simply because it can and has been used in some less than healthy traditional southern food preparations. Collard Greens also gained a bit of a stigma as a poor man’s food because they are cheap and plentiful in hot southern climates. As inexpensive as they are, they’re certainly rich in folate, a B vitamin thought to slow the decline in cognitive function as we age. A serving of cabbage provides about 45% of your daily folate requirement. The taste of kale is strong and somewhat bitter but very delicious. A favorite way to prepare cabbages is to remove the thick central stem, cut them into thin strips and sauté them in extra virgin olive oil along with some minced garlic. Delicious! If using raw, prepare as you would kale so the leaf is more tender. A note on cooking your vegetables: never use aluminum or copper pans. Sulfur compounds in vegetables react with the metal and can destroy fragile phytonutrients and vitamins.
In recent years, more people have begun to enjoy the sweet, crunchy taste of romaine lettuce. Now it shows up on salad bars more often than on the iceberg! That’s a big deal since romaine lettuce contains about six times as much vitamin C and eight times as much vitamin A as its paler cousins. The extra potassium and folic acid are also a bonus. You can combine this versatile lettuce with almost anything. Try broadening your salad horizons with a combination of nuts, fruit, seeds, and crumbly cheeses paired with tender, tender hearts of romaine lettuce.
A personal favorite in our family is the bold and spicy arugula or arugula. This descendant of the mustard family is a leaf with attitude! It packs an impressive list of credentials including beta-carotene, vitamin C, and more Omega-3s than any other green leafy vegetable. Raw arugula has 47 mg of heart-healthy Omega-3s in just one ounce of leaves. Arugula is positively fabulous turned into pesto!
Watercress is similar to arugula in that it has a strong peppery flavor, however, this delicate little green is actually a member of the cruciferous family of vegetables. Members of this family of vital plants are famous for their cancer-fighting properties. Watercress is armed with enzymes known as isothiocyanates that are believed to fight free radicals and actually reduce damage to white blood cells. Watercress is pungent and goes well with fruit or fruit puree dressings.
Lettuce or Mache is a delicate sage colored leaf with a velvety texture. Although relatively small, Mache is nutritional TNT! Loaded with vitamin B9, this little plant helps fight fatigue and stress with thirty times more power than spinach. The flavor is much more understated than that of arugula or watercress and therefore requires subtle combinations of dressings and other vegetables. As with all dark green leafy vegetables, eating them raw retains more of the fragile nutrients that can be destroyed by heat.
Ever wonder what that weird little lace nest of greenery is hiding in your spring greens mix? It is quite bitter when you taste it alone. That would be Curly Endive or Chicory and it’s great for fighting gut bacteria and helping to protect you from colon cancer! Due to its bitterness, radicchio tends to need sweeter partners.
Here’s one that might surprise you because it’s not green. Radicchio is a small purple lettuce that looks like a cabbage. It grows in the shade but is still rich in lutein, which helps protect the eyes from macular degeneration. Radicchio tends to lean toward bitter on the flavor scale and the leaves aren’t soft and buttery in texture like a small head of Boston lettuce would be. The stiff textured reddish leaves make beautiful cups to hold other vegetables or pasta.
Of course, there are many wonderful and tasty emerald or jewel-toned wonders of the plant kingdom that were not mentioned here. I encourage you to get out to farmers markets, co-ops, health food stores, and anywhere you can find produce and experience for yourself. Several points to keep in mind when shopping for fresh produce are: Buy organic when possible and support local farmers. Be creative too. There is a world beyond the iceberg and it is full of possibilities.
Copyright S. Jill Anderson