How to Keep Fresh Picked Salad Greens Well-baked and Beautiful..No More Wilted Greens

When our various lettuce & mesclun plants showtime to get big enough to pick and eat, I am so excited!  There is nothing better than a crisp, fresh salad made with your ain lettuce or spinach or other blazon of green.  I used to have this problem: I don't know how many times I accept gone out to the garden to pick some salad greens for a fresh and lovely salad, and  BAM! They turn into limp and saggy things before I get all the way dorsum to the kitchen.

It's pretty common for the greens to fade away right before your very eyes! They just can't take the oestrus. And if I let them sit down even for a few moments outside the fridge...they are definitely goners. And so is my wonderful salad. How annoying!  So afterwards an blow and some experiments, here are the steps I accept for keeping lettuce lovely.

Notation: You may also enjoy these articles: How to Amend the Worst Soil in the Globe So You Tin Grow Stuff, 10 Tips Every Starting time Gardener Needs to Know, or maybe y'all'd like to find out well-nigh Fermentation Myths for healthy natural eating?

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Salad greens, especially the delicate red ones, have a habit of becoming limp very quickly.  Here is how to keep your fresh-picked greens crisp, fresh, and beautiful, no matter how hot it is outside! Find out how to keep perfect, fresh greens c…

Salad greens, specially the delicate red ones, take a habit of becoming limp very apace.  Hither is how to go on your fresh-picked greens well-baked, fresh, and cute, no matter how hot information technology is outside! Find out how to go along perfect, fresh greens crisp longer---

How to Continue Your Fresh Picked Greens Crisp for a Long Time!

Want to know how to keep your greens fresh, well-baked and salad perfect? Here's what I've learned to exercise so we can pick, wash, eat, and accept a crisp wonderful salad:

Footstep 1    Pick Your Salad Greens in the Early Forenoon

This is by far the best time of the solar day to option your lettuce and greens.  The temperature hasn't yet heated up, and your greens are withal full of moisture from the night before.  You can also option them in the evening, later on a good soak, but I have found that the early morning is the absolute best time.  Definitely try to become out there before the sun heats everything up.

Fresh-picked lettuce from the garden first thing in the morning.  Already going a little limp, there.

Fresh-picked lettuce from the garden starting time thing in the morning time.  Already going a piddling limp, there.

Pace 2  Soak Those Lettuce Leaves & Greens

I used to just give them a good rinse off.  But one day, a footling emergency happened, and I had to go out them soaking in the bowl.  What a fortunate accident!  Once I took them out and dried them, I noticed they were a lot more crisp than usual after a picayune launder off.  And so, soak those greens for at least 5 or ten minutes.  I have left mine for up to an hour, and no problems there!

Submerge the salad greens in some cool water in a bowl for several minutes.  

Submerge the salad greens in some absurd water in a bowl for several minutes.

Step 3  Shake & Lay Them Out to Dry out a Bit

Yous don't actually have to milk shake them, but I like to.  I merely pace outside and requite them a brisk piddling wave in the breeze.  They I lay them out on a clean towel to finish drying off a flake.  I don't go out them out for long---no more than 15 minutes or then.

Be gentle with the frail greens. Greens such equally red lettuce can bruise easily. You don't want this--

Drying off on a clean towel.  Don't they look better than they did right after being picked?

Drying off on a clean towel.  Don't they await better than they did right after being picked?

Step 4  Put the Salad Greens in a Plastic Bag & Store

Dab off any actress moisture (I am not fanatical well-nigh this---if in that location is still a little moisture left on the leaves, information technology's ok), then place them in a clean plastic bag, and leave the top slightly open up.

OR If you lot are getting away from using plastic, like we are (I originally wrote this before I found out the horrors of plastic), please cheque out my Beeswax DIY Cling Wrap article. You'll be amazed!

Put into the refrigerator, and enjoy for the next day or ii...or mayhap even 3! :-)  **I usually exit a modest opening in the top so a bit of air tin can broadcast.  Easy Peasy Well-baked Lettuce for Salad. And it will stay fresh WAY longer in the refrigerator too.

Fresh lettuce from the garden....These leaves will keep for 2 or 3 days, but they're usually gone way before then!

Fresh lettuce from the garden....These leaves volition proceed for 2 or 3 days, but they're usually gone style before and so!

Final Thoughts on Wilted Greens & Fresh Salad:

Depending on how hot (and dry) your summers go, wilting greens tin be a real trouble. At the very least, information technology's a tad abrasive, if non downright frustrating to watch your lovely greens wilt before y'all tin can even become them to the table.

Try out these simple steps and come across if they don't help out! :-)

During the winter time, I grow lettuce varieties and mesclun in a sunny window in my kitchen.  Y'all can employ this crisping tip for lettuce grown inside equally well as out!  Savor!

Wondering where to buy seeds? I like the small family owned visitor White Harvest Seeds because they have non-GMO, heirloom, non-hybrid seeds. Yous can find out more than about how to cull seeds in this article: Why You Need a Seed Bank.

How practise y'all keep your greens crisp? Go out comments and ideas and thoughts in the comments department.

Hugs & Self-Reliance!

Heidi

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for our Newsletter! I'll be sending you iii eBooks costless, also! I is near how to use herbs to relax and de-stress, 1 is on using essential oils, and finally the third is how to get your homestead started no affair where you lot live!