Home How do you wash your salad greens?

[megumic]

My least favorite thing to make is salad for the pure fact that I must wash and then DRY the lettuce. I can't figure out how to dry lettuce dry enough so it's not soggy. Since we have a large salad most nights, it's quite often that I am in a salad washing conundrum. (I know, such a big problem, right?)

How do you wash your greens? Have a a great tip? Use the good old salad spinner? Enlighten me!

 

[Haven]

I use a salad spinner, and if that still isn't good enough I lay the greens out on a clean dish towel, fold it over, and gently press.

 

[SeattleSweetheart]

Yes, I use a salad spinner. I fill it with cold water and put the leaves of lettuce in to soak while I'm making other parts of the dinner. Then I gently grab the lettuce and swish it around a bit in the water. Then I grab out the basket and lettuce from the spinner and dump the water. Then I replace the basket into the spinner, spin the lettuce, dump the water, spin the lettuce, then my lettuce is dry as it needs to be for the salad. My mom does it this way too. I love my OXO salad spinner. I don't think I'd ever want to make salad without a spinner.

 

[Ninna]

I wash all lettuces and greens as soon as I get home... spin them pretty dry, and store them in the fridge in a big plastic or glass tub with a lid, with a crumpled-up paper towel in the bottom to regulate the humidity. Also try to keep large leaves like romaine intact to minimize browning. Fresh arugula and loose leaf lettuces we buy at the farmer's market last for a week. I just grab a handful out of the tub, and tear the leaves then add other veggies.

 

[yssie]

I'd be lost without my salad spinner. I use it for all sorts of stuff - salad greens, spinach, cherries and grapes..

 

[megumic]

Okay, done. It seems pretty unanimous. Salad spinner it is! Just the few responses already make it clear that I'm so behind the ball w/o a salad spinner. (How? Why?) We seriously have giant salads at least 3 x per week -- looking forward to spinning away!

 

[Loves Vintage]

I wash leaf by leaf to start. I do this to ensure that all traces of dirt and insects are down the drain, not in my spinner. A spinner will necessarily spin out dirt or insects. After I hand-rinse and inspect each leaf, I put the whole leaves standing up in a strainer. I then break the leaves into pieces and spin in small batches. Spinning in small batches allows more water to be spun out.

 

[JulieN]

You won't look back after getting an OXO salad spinner.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I have to wash everything with soap here and rinse it in bottled water... we don't eat salads because it's really a pain... mostly reserve this for like sandwiches and burgers.

I miss having more salads, but I kinda like a bit of water in my salad because it dilutes the salad dressing so I can use less and still have it evenly distributed. I guess I'm in the minority there though lol I did bring my salad spinner to China but I've never used it here.

Generally speaking I also like to soak my lettuce for a few minutes to increase turgor pressure as well.

 

[somethingshiny]

I've never even SEEN a salad spinner! I eat salads and lettuces all the time, too. I wash leaf by leaf as I use it. My fridge doesn't have a good humidity control so if I wash everything it goes bad. Then I blot on a towel. Just today I bought prewashed and prechopped romaine because I just don't have the energy to go through all the work tonight.

 

[emilyalyse]

Honestly? I don't, aside from a quick rinse in the sink w/a colander to rid them of any large amounts of dirt (no gritty clumps, please) or any buggies.



I know, I know. However, I'm a firm believer in exposure (I also don't ever use hand sanitizers, I haven't had any vaccines, *ever*, etc.). I have my own organic backyard garden where I grow the vast majority of our produce, and grew up eating the same way. I'm also a vegan, and, well, as gross as it sounds, vitamin B-12 is actually found in dirt. So, while I'm not eating dirt by itself, a few teeny particles amongst my spinach and lettuce greens will only do me well.

((That said, I don't purchase standard lettuces at the grocers. If it is out of season for my own garden, my greens come from a local food co-op, where local farmers organically greenhouse their produce)).

Nothing against those who do otherwise, though! We're not total hippies... we're just a bit "odd" by normal standards.

 

[LadyBlue]

We always eat this Lettuce and I don't wash them. Should I wash them? I tought they were washed

 

[iheartscience]

You won't look back after getting an OXO salad spinner.

Ditto!

But I'm like gaby-if I'm eating the pre-washed packaged ones I just don't wash them. My mom washes those, too, but I'm too lazy so I choose to trust the manufacturers!

 

[monarch64]

I don't wash them. I am one e-coli virus away from being a size 6 again, damnit.

 

[Dreamer_D]

I don't I just don't use the outside leaves, if some look dirty I just rinse those ones a little. I figure a little dirt don't hurt and my rinse won't get rid of anything more consequential anyways.

I do have a salad spinner too, though, and it helps if you must wash.

 

[cara]

I don't wash the prewashed greens. If I purchase heads of lettuce, I rinse off obvious dirt on outer leaves and rinse some of the middle leaves, but usually get lazy by the inner leaves that look clean anyway. Stand them vertically in the drain for a bit, shake them off carefully, chop and go. For special salads (ie, ceasar!) I dry the lettuce on dish rags or towels too, to prevent dressing dilution Salad spinner would probably be useful, maybe when we have a bigger house/kitchen.

 

[elrohwen]

I love my salad spinner! Though I rarely eat salads at home (I prefer cooked veggies), we go through at least 5 heads of lettuce and 4 bunches of parsley per week in my house between the two bunnies, so lots of greens get washed every day. I don't know where I'd be without the salad spinner. We use the smaller size, and do about four batches in it per day. I'm thinking of upgrading to the larger one, but then it's added counter space.

I generally rip the leaves into small-ish pieces and put a small pile in the basket of the spinner, then turn on the water and rinse while turning the leaves over to get every side, then spin. I actually like leaving them a bit wet so the bunnies get extra water, but to get them drier it's easy to fluff the leaves then spin another couple times. For the outside leaves that tend to collect dirt, I might gives those a quick rinse first. I'm less anal with farmers market greens since they're organic and the worst they can be is dirty. I'm more careful with the stuff from the grocery store because of pesticides.