Lollo Rosso
Lactuca sativa · Leafy green
Top 10 pairings
Lollo Rosso is the showpiece loose-leaf lettuce — an Italian non-heading variety that forms a dense, open rosette of intensely curled and ruffled leaves, each one shading from a pale green base up through bronze to a deep, almost purple red-burgundy at the tightly frilled margin. It hearts up into no head at all; instead it is grown for its colour and its frizzy, decorative edge, which trap dressing and add loft and contrast to a salad bowl. The flavour is gentle and mild, soft-textured rather than crunchy, carrying only a faint, clean, pleasant bitterness that sits behind a fresh green leafiness.
Picking a good onedrag
Crisp and squeakyLimp and slimy
SofteningStill fine rawDressed salads, sandwiches, tacos
Cut coreRim tanned, sap dried
Rib snapBends a little, then snaps
Leaf colourGreen, outer leaves dulling
SmellGrassy and neutral
These cues are Lettuce's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
95%
Edible part
539 g · core out
567 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
A domestic fridge holds it about 5× longer than the counter.
95–100% — as damp as you can get it
Humidity
Wrapped, never sealed
Airflow