The scorching summer weather is here and that means when it comes to food, salad season has arrived in earnest.
Nobody wants a huge hot dinner when the sun is shining outside, which means salads with lettuce, rocket, spinach and other key ingredients become much more popular at this time of year when the weather is good – and some of us cast a nervous eye to our waistline. Which is why it’s so disappointing when the salad leaves have gone all limp, lifeless and lacking in crispness or flavour.
But if your lettuce is lacking energy, there is a way to bring it back to life: hot water.
It sounds crazy, but putting lettuce in hot water can actually return it to full crispness ‘like magic’ according to food experts because this works to rehydrate the leaf.
Homemaking.com reports: “Lettuce wilts when it loses moisture. Think of lettuce like a tiny, leafy water balloon. When it sits in your fridge too long, it slowly loses water, making the leaves soft and droopy.
“But here’s the good news: lettuce isn’t dead — it just needs a little re-hydration therapy.”
They say that boiling water until it’s warm – not scalding hot – and then submerging the lettuce in it for 30 seconds to one minute is enough to revive flagging lettuce leaves.
After its jacuzzi bath, transfer it to ice water for another two to three minutes, then pat dry with kitchen roll.
And just like magic, the lettuce will be transformed back to full crispness.
This is backed by Bon Appetit which says: “Soak your leafy greens in ice-cold water, they say.
“It’ll make them plump and crisp, they say. But I’m here to tell you: Please do the exact opposite. Soak your sad, droopy greens in hot — not cool, definitely not cold — water and watch them resurrect like a time-lapse video in reverse.
“Try it for yourself. Fill a large bowl with very hot tap water and plunge your wilted greens. Let them soak for 10–30 minutes, then drain. Wrap the leaves in a damp towel and chill before using (or if you need them immediately, cool them down in ice water).
“This technique shows up in other places too. Florists have long used warm water to revive wilting flowers. Whether it’s a rose stem or radicchio head, the theory is that warm water opens up the cell walls more efficiently, allowing the delicate produce to absorb more liquid, more quickly.”