Alternative Names: Celtuce, celery lettuce, asparagus lettuce, Chinese lettuce, wosun, stalk lettuce
Characteristics: While the floppy leaves are edible, the real prize here is the stalk of this lettuce variety. The leaves can be bitter, like escarole, but the stalk, which should be peeled, has a nutty, cucumber-like flavor.
How to use it: The leaves can be eaten like any other lettuce variety: raw or wilted into soups. The stalks can be sliced thin and eaten raw or added to a stir-fry, grilled, or cooked any way you might prepare asparagus or broccoli stems (such as in a frittata).
18. Other salad greens
Photo by Chelsea Kyle, food styling by Katherine Sacks
Baby Beet Greens: When the leaves of the beet top are immature, they are tender and slightly spicy. The purplish-red veins are visually striking and can dress up any salad. When wilted, the veins become brighter in color and a little bit sweeter.
Mizuna (aka Japanese greens, spider mustard, xue cai, kyona, potherb mustard, and California Peppergrass): This Japanese mustard green is typically sold as part of a premade salad mix but can be purchased loose at the farmers market or specialty shop. Mizuna has a relatively strong, spicy flavor when compared to other salad greens, but its flavor won't overpower a dish. The small jagged edges that make mizuna look like miniature oak leaves add a lot of texture.
Sorrel: Technically classified as an herb, sorrel (pictured above) is a wonderful addition of any salad. The bright green leaves are tart and quite lemony. They may have a bright red rib with a web of red veins shooting out to the sides.
Tatsoi (aka tat soi, spoon cabbage, rosette bok choy): The small, rounded leaves of this salad green have a mild, mustardlike flavor. The texture is similar to that of baby spinach, and one can be swapped for the other. Baby tatsoi is usually sold loose, but when mature, tatsoi can be purchased whole, in the shape of a rosette, and it is often cooked intact in stir-fries. Like mizuna, tatsoi is often available only at the farmers market or specialty gourmet shops.
