How do you keep lettuce from wilting so quickly?

Question

I need to buy a head of lettuce tonight for a salad Friday. Every time I bring one home the next day or so it is wilted. How do grocery stores keep them fresh?

Answer 1

Wash the lettuce, spin it dry or pay it completely dry with paper towels. Then wrap it in dry paper towels and store in a ziploc bag. The paper towel will absorb any excess moisture that would usually cause your lettuce to wilt. You can also make fresh herbs like cilantro, parley last longer by wrapping in paper towels. Cut green peppers also would not get slimy using this method.

Answer 2

When I buy a head of lettuce, I first make sure the head is firm and then when I get it home I tear off the first couple of layers, hit the core on the counter and pull it out. Then I run cold water over the head, with the hole, where the core use to be, up and let the water run through the head for a few minutes. I then turn it over and let it drain real good and put it in my lettuce crisper bowl, its air tight, and refrigerate. My lettuce stays fresh for about a week and a half, sometimes two weeks. Good luck!!

Answer 3

I have found that if I buy the lettuce and take it out of the plastic and wrap it in a paper towel or even a dish towel, it lasts longer and doesn't wilt. You don't want it to get soggy in water. Keeping it dry stops it from spoiling. I keep it in the refrigerator vegetable drawer without other vegetables. Hope that helps a bit! Good luck!

Answer 4

When you buy the lettuce, keep it in the store bag and put it in the vegetable drawer in your fridge until Friday. Come Friday, take the lettuce out, and remove the first 2 or 3 layers of leaves and throw them out. That should get rid of most of the wilting.

If the lettuce is significantly wilted, letting it soak in ice water will restore crispness to some of the wilted areas.

Answer 5

the best way to prevent the lettuce from wilting so quickly is to wash it well, remove excess water :p make sure to drain it well or better yet use a salad spinner to be sure. Then, i didn't have a salad spinner, i tried to put the greens in a strainer / colander and shook it wit a clean towel wrapped in it to prevent splattering of water around the kitchen. It was effective! try it!

Answer 6

you are able to shrink it with a plastic knife to dodge the "rusting" crimson coloration. prepare it as quickly as you get homestead from the food market and place it right into a field designed for lettuce to maintain it out of the water that would drain on it. Tupperware has a great lettuce keeper. I actual have had mine for extra or less 10 years now.

Answer 7

Put in the refridgerator, it will last a bit longer. Grocery stores have to replace their produce every few days, because all vegetables go bad after a few days.

To get the freshest, buy the lettuce on Friday.

Answer 8

Don't wash it! Keep it in a bag, preferably a sealed bag. Put it in the refigirator till Friday. Wash it with cold (real cold) water that keeps the leaves green and crispy. Don't put the salad dressing until you serve the lettuce salad to the guests.

Answer 9

wash the lettuce and use a salad spinner to remove the excess water. place in a ziploc bag and refrigerate. make sure you don't put it in the same drawer as potatoes, apples and onions. the gases produced by these foods will break down your lettuce quicker.

Answer 10

We wash it, and it keeps fine for a few days. But ours is from the garden. Be really picky when you pick one up from the supermarket, and keep it cool and slightly moist. It should be fine Friday night. If you are really worried, wash it once a day, and spin it dry, to keep it moist. Supermarkets keep theirs fresh with the misters in the refrigerated case.