10 Unusual Greens to Try in Your Next Salad (That Aren’t Lettuce)

It’s time to shake up your salads! There are extra choices for homegrown greens than heads of lettuce. Leafy greens run the gamut from bitter to spicy, offering a extra fascinating punch to a salad. Strive these uncommon salad greens in your subsequent salad.

Rising uncommon greens can add distinctive textures and loads of flavour to your plate. However the perfect half is that many of those uncommon salad greens are very straightforward to develop!

Most leafy greens are cool-weather greens which might be finest planted within the early spring (as quickly as the bottom is workable) and within the fall as temperatures start to drop.

They develop shortly and could be harvested when the vegetation are younger and tender, and plenty of will develop nicely in chilly frames or undercover within the winter, making them an amazing selection for year-round gardening

Additionally, the greens of many root greens like beets, turnips, and radishes could be eaten when younger and make nice salad greens.

Listed below are a few of my favorite uncommon salad greens to strive in your subsequent salad:

Dandelion Greens

Sure, the leaves from the notorious yellow garden invader. Dandelion greens are extremely nutritious (learn extra about that right here). They’re very fashionable in Asian delicacies and have gotten available in Western supermarkets. In the event you can’t discover them on the retailer, forage the greens from an space that you already know is pesticide-free. They are often on the bitter facet, so harvest child leaves for a milder flavour.

Tastes like: a bitter inexperienced like endive, however nutty.

Lamb’s Lettuce (Mâche)

These delicate little leaves are tender and candy. Lamb’s lettuce has been cultivated in France because the seventeenth century and is prized for its nutty flavour. Though it may be tough to seek out at your native grocer by itself, it may be bought commercially in prepackaged spring mixes. This salad inexperienced is unquestionably one to strive rising in your personal backyard.

Tastes like: a nuttier, earthier model of cress.

Speckled Lettuce

This delicate, buttery-tasting heirloom lettuce has splashes of purple on the leaves that give it an interesting look each within the backyard and in your plate. It is a very gentle tasting inexperienced just like different lettuces and goes nicely paired with most different salad substances.

Tastes like: gentle, buttery lettuce.

Purple Velvet Lettuce

You eat this lettuce together with your eyes first, however your style buds will reassure your selection with one chunk! It should make any easy salad come alive with a pop of color. Bonus: it’s very easy to develop, too.

Tastes like: delicate, candy lettuce.

Tatsoi

This common Asian inexperienced has an identical texture to spinach, however with a gentle mustard flavour. It may be simply present in its rosette kind in Asian grocery shops. Tatsoi could be simply grown from seed and may take a tough frost. In zones 4-7, it might develop below cowl all winter lengthy.

Tastes like: delicate mustard greens.

Mizuna

Also referred to as Japanese mustard, this inexperienced is pungent and presents fascinating texture and flavour to salads. Mizuna is a fast-growing, cold-hardy inexperienced that’s usually included in specialty salad mixes. It’s simply began from seed and may survive heavy frost. Like Tatsoi, it might overwinter in zones 4-7 below a protecting cowl.

Tastes like: delicate, peppery mustard.

Frisée (curly endive)

If you would like a daring flavour and crunch, then Frisée is for you. Also referred to as curly endive, the “inexperienced” will get its pale color from being shielded from gentle throughout the rising course of. It’s barely bitter in style and provides loads of texture.

Frisée is a problem to develop resulting from having to “blanch” the leaves. The leaves are sure throughout their rising course of to forestall daylight to its newly forming internal leaves (which provides it its famous bitter flavour). Nonetheless, if you wish to develop frisée in your backyard, you may skip the blanching course of. The outcome can be milder, greener leaves.

Tastes like: bitter, peppery lettuce.

Candy Potato Leaves

The leaves of a candy potato plant should not solely scrumptious however extremely nutritious as nicely. In truth, candy potato greens are greater in vitamins and dietary fibre than common greens like kale and spinach.Candy potato leaves are broadly common in lots of nations and are beginning to achieve recognition within the west. Their style is just like spinach and could be eaten uncooked or cooked. Candy potatoes are heat-loving vegetation and develop prolifically. You may harvest them younger with none impression on the precise tuber underground.

Keep away from the decorative candy potato vine you may get on the backyard middle. Many of those varieties should not grown for consumption and could possibly be handled with chemical substances.

Tastes like: an earthier, sweeter model of kale.

Nasturtium Leaves

Many know that the nasturtium flowers are edible. The leaves, stems, and seeds are edible as nicely. Nasturtium leaves supply a peppery flavour just like their flowers.

The leaves are more durable than the typical leaf lettuce, however could be minimize into skinny strips so as to add a flavourful chunk to salads. Nasturtiums are a cinch to develop and make an amazing companion plant to many greens. Nasturtium can deal with summer season warmth in addition to the cooler temps of spring and fall. They do want poorer soil; fertile soil will lead to extra foliage and fewer blooms.

Purple Ruffles Basil

This fragrant basil is as lovely as it’s scrumptious! Its giant, darkish purple leaves are the right dimension to combine into salads together with your different greens, and the hanging color makes an on a regular basis salad look elegant and engaging.

Tastes like: a barely stronger model of Candy Basil.

Blended Herbs

If in case you have a number of herbs rising within the backyard, toss them collectively for a flavourful salad combine! Typically, herbs are simply utilized in dressings or to boost a dish. Make them entrance and middle in your salad. Collect your favourites for a aromatic dinner salad.

Tastes like: your favorite natural salad dressing, however more energizing!

Bitter Salad Greens with Heat Bacon French dressing

Do this enjoyable approach to take pleasure in some uncommon salad greens for dinner any evening of the week.

2 cups of dandelion greens, chopped

2 cups of Frisée, chopped

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced

2 slices of bacon

1 clove of garlic, sliced

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup of lemon juice

1 tb of recent tarragon, chopped

1 tb of recent basil, chopped

Salt and pepper to style

Mix the dandelion greens and Frisée in a big bowl. To make the French dressing, prepare dinner the two slices of bacon till crisp. Take away the cooked bacon and place it on a paper-towel-lined plate to chill. Take away the bacon fats from the pan.

Add the olive oil, sliced garlic, tarragon, and basil to the pan. Heat the oil till aromatic. Take away from the warmth and mix the oil with the lemon juice. Salt and pepper to style. Toss the French dressing with the greens and sliced tomatoes. Serve with the reserved bacon crumbled on high.

Extra Ideas for Rising Greens

Debbie Wolfe is a mother of two rambunctious boys, spouse, and work-at-home mother from Georgia. In her free time (when there’s such a factor), she is within the backyard or hidden away studying the most recent post-apocalyptic sci-fi drama! As pursuits, Debbie is an obsessive crafter, dwelling chef, and gardener. She is a contract author, blogger, and is a co-author and photographer behind the backyard weblog, The Prudent Backyard; a group of suggestions, crafts, and articles that spotlight dwelling gardening.