Lettuce

Lettuce is mainly used fresh in salads or sandwiches but can also be cooked. In a green salad, lettuces are generally interchangeable, but when adding other ingredients, pick a leaf type that will suit them — floppy leaves won’t go well with heavy ingredients like potatoes, and crisp firm leaves need a fairly robust dressing. For a mixed salad, you need a good combination of textures and flavours.

There are many varieties now available, and they can be divided into four categories.