Types of Salads: Properties and Nutritional Characteristics

Not all green leafy salads are the same and the differences are not only in the shape and the way they are cooked. There are salads Some are spring, others winter, and still others have a short life cycle but are harvested year-round. Each salad has its own unique properties and nutritional characteristics, unique from other salads. In general, there's one thing all salads have in common: they're extremely low in calories, about 15 calories per 100 grams of produce.

Index of topics

Types of salads

But let's look at the differences between the different types of salads and in particular the most commonly used ones on our tables.

Valerian

Also known as lamb's lettuce, corn salad, or lamb's lettuce. With tender, rounded leaves, it is rich in chlorophyll, mucilage, mineral salts, and vitamins A, B, and C. It has revitalizing, emollient, laxative, diuretic, and purifying properties.

Watercress

With a tart, spicy flavor, it's rich in antioxidants and has been credited with healing, purifying, restorative, and diuretic properties. It's sown from April to June and harvested approximately every 15 days. Thanks to its short life cycle, it can be sown year-round.

Rucola

Cultivated and wild, it has a spicier and bitter taste. In addition to its vitamin C, potassium, iron and Calcium, it is appreciated because it aids digestion and has a purifying action on the liver and it is a carminative, that is, it helps expel intestinal gas.

Lettuce

It comes in many varieties: the romaine, crisp and sweet, with fleshy, voluminous, bright green leaves and wavy edges; the canasta, with a large, compact head, has a tender, pale center and darker, fleshier leaves; the cabbage, compact and voluminous, has wavy leaves ranging from light green to red; the iceberg, large and crisp, has pale leaves that form a rounded head and, given its high water content, can weigh over a kilo.

Mixed salad

It's a mix of wild or "field" vegetables, which vary from season to season. Usually the mix is made up of salad greens such as dandelion, arugula, lamb's lettuce, burnet, sorrel, and chervil, but you can also find watercress, fennel wild, mallow and lovage.

Dandelion

Also known as dandelion, in spring it transforms meadows into yellow expanses. Its leaves are rich in vitamins B, C and E and are used as a stimulant. digestion, but also to support the liver and gallbladder. It has an excellent draining and purifying effect on the body.

Spinach

It is an annual plant, but in spring you can enjoy the sweetest and most nutritious leaves. Appreciated for its richness in iron, it is also An ally of vision, thanks to its high lutein content. It can be eaten cooked or raw in a salad with lemon and parmesan shavings.

Belgian endive

This elongated winter salad has tightly packed, white leaves. With a bitter taste, it contains vitamins A and B and excellent amounts of insoluble fiber.

Curly lettuce

It can be eaten cooked or raw, it has jagged leaves, an open and loosely compact head, very light in the centre. It is rich in Vitamin A e C and mineral salts such as potassium, iron and phosphorus.