I’m not sure how many times I have purchased a head of lettuce with the intent of making a salad one night during the week, and it gets soggy before I’m ready to use it. I have found that there are definitely some right and wrong ways to store lettuce to keep it fresher longer.
How to Store Lettuce:
The best way to keep your lettuce fresh is to wash and dry it right when you get home before it goes into the fridge. Separate all of the leaves of lettuce, and place them in a sink filled with cold water. Submerge your lettuce leaves into it and spin them around a bit. To dry the leaves you can use a salad spinner or just wrap up in a dish towel to dry.
Iceberg lettuce does not need the full wash and dry treatment as other lettuce does because it is so tightly wrapped naturally that dirt can’t find it’s way in between the leaves. So to clean a head of iceberg lettuce, just remove the outside leaves you don’t normally use, and then just rinse it under the sink. You can then just shake it dry.
Then before putting them in the fridge it’s best to wrap the lettuce up in a towel. With iceberg lettuce you can just wrap some paper towel around the entire head, and place it back into the plastic bag it came in at the store. For other lettuce that you separated the leaves in order to wash them, lay out a dish towel or a couple paper towels, and roll them up inside.You can then either lay the towel directly on the fridge shelf or in the produce drawer, or you can put inside a large ziploc bag, removing as much air as possible before sealing it.
You can also line the drawer with the kitchen towel and nestle the leaves into it. You can even use multiple towels to separate out different types of lettuce. Using this technique makes it much easier to just reach in and grab what you need for your salad or sandwich.
Before placing the lettuce in the drawer, make sure your temperature and humidity controls are set properly in your fridge. If temp is too low an humidity is too high, your lettuce will get soggy. But you need to be careful that it is not too cold or the lettuce can frost.
Wrap a head of lettuce in a paper towel before storing it in the fridge.
