I like salads. I like salads a lot. But for many years the washing and drying of fresh lettuce was a pain. It would turn into an all day affair – spreading out the paper towels on the sink, then then wet lettuce, then another row of paper towels. Drying always took so long, after multiple layers of the towels. Often, I was too lazy to go through the process and would therefore not use the lettuce before it went bad in the fridge. Sometimes I would buy the bags of prewashed/precut lettuce, but they always taste old to me and once the bag is open it doesn’t last very long.
That was until I broke down and bought a salad spinner a couple of years ago after seeing it at a friend’s house. When I got home from the grocery store yesterday, my initial reaction to washing lettuce was the pre-salad spinner aversion to having to wash it. But, I pulled out that salad spinner, separated and washed the lettuce, and wound the spinner. Within seconds, the lettuce was water free and ready to store.
Fresh lettuce lasts so much longer when washed and stored correctly. I can get almost two weeks out of it.
The salad spinner has been a welcomed addition to the kitchen. It’s probably in my top 5 most-used kitchen equipment – worth every penny!
I have one of them too but being a man it rarely gets used :-). But the reason I use it is the prepacked stuff is washed in a chlorine bath before being packed, to help it keep. However the water from my taps is so filled with it and the crap the county puts in to treat it, that really all I do when I do wash lettuce -why is there a 'u' in that word- is loosen the chemicals in the hope I reduce it when I spin it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if I've a list of favorite kitchen tools at the moment. Yes I cooked on the hibachi grill all through the summer but that's not really a tool is it. I've had fav' knives in the past.
The prepackaged stuff is so convenient, and I'll use in a pinch, but you can just tell it is not right. The funny thing is that it's "preserved" but doesn't last more than a a day or two once opened.
ReplyDeleteOff the top of my head...garlic press, microplane, salad spinner, silicone basting brushes, and kitchen scissors are faves. In addition to good knives, which are an essential. The others are just fun to have and/or make things easier.
It isn't so much preserved as delayed with gas in the pack. Then, when it's opened the ripening/decomposition is intensified.
DeleteThe most profound it the bananas, where they are cut very unripe and then shipped to europe/us with ever lessening gas.
And as much as we know it's not good for us, most wouldn't touch the fruits and veggies with bumps and bruises; that didn't look pretty. And without the gases and sprays and whatnot, the travel would make them unappealing to consumers. We grow a lot here in the state so ours don't go too far, but even so the look of them at the grocery store is very different than their look at the farmers' market.
Deleteah the gift of the salad spinner.
ReplyDeleteRight?!?! It's pretty handy.
DeleteHahahaha...remember the salad spinner from the Rosanne show years ago? The mom got everyone them for Xmas. When my husband took over the cooking he got a salad spinner and I laughed...but it works! And those big leaves of lettuce taste awesome with tuna and avocado rolled in them for lunch!
ReplyDeleteI never saw that episode. What a great gift!
DeleteI'm impressed that your husband took over the cooking. I don't know if I could give it up entirely, but how nice of him to take that on. Does that mean you have to do the dishes then? :)
I will keep my opinion of tuna and advocado lettuce wraps to myself.;)