Dear Folks, For the past number of months I've been wanting to tell you of my lettuce problem in hopes that you can solve it. You see, during most of my entire adult life I've always rinsed off my fresh head of lettuce under the faucet, drained it in my collendar and then stored it in the refrigerator in a plastic bag. It was always good until the last bite. However, things have changed drastically. No matter how hard I try to pick the best heads of lettuce in the bin, rinse them and store them meticulously, I quickly end up with slimy lettuce. So my question here is what have I been doing wrong lately? What worked perfectly before definitely doesn't work now. Should I now just rinse the head off, drain it and then store it in my refrigerator crisper drawer without the plastic bag? Should I not rinse it off at all? To me, lettuce is as much a staple as bread and milk. What would my dinner be without a salad? Discounting a slimy salad. Help, vee

Vee, what if it's not what you're doing with the lettuce but the lettuce itself. When we buy it we don't know "how" or "where" it was raised. Just like the wearing out of our bodies, so is farm land worn out. Personally I don't think our food is as healthy as it used to be. My suggestion is to try some other way to store it. Hopefully someone else around your kitchen table can help. For me when I buy fresh veggies and fruits I eat them up as quick as possible cause they just don't last. One thing that annoys me here is not being able to get near ripe bananas. The stores have them lying there green as the proverbial grass - yuck ! I like a banana when I can't hear it peeled, if you know what I mean. Oh, well we each have our quirks, don't we. Evelyn ----- Original Message ----- From: "Vee L. Housman" <housman@adelphia.net> To: <NYNIAGAR-FOLKS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, June 11, 2005 11:52 PM Subject: [FOLKS] My lettuce problem > Dear Folks, > > For the past number of months I've been wanting to tell you of my lettuce > problem in hopes that you can solve it. You see, during most of my entire > adult life I've always rinsed off my fresh head of lettuce under the faucet, > drained it in my collendar and then stored it in the refrigerator in a > plastic bag. It was always good until the last bite. > > However, things have changed drastically. No matter how hard I try to pick > the best heads of lettuce in the bin, rinse them and store them > meticulously, I quickly end up with slimy lettuce. So my question here is > what have I been doing wrong lately? What worked perfectly before > definitely doesn't work now. > > Should I now just rinse the head off, drain it and then store it in my > refrigerator crisper drawer without the plastic bag? Should I not rinse it > off at all? > > To me, lettuce is as much a staple as bread and milk. What would my dinner > be without a salad? Discounting a slimy salad. > > Help, > vee > >

Evelyn said, > Vee, what if it's not what you're doing with the lettuce but the lettuce > itself. When we buy it we don't know "how" or "where" it was raised. Dear Evelyn, That thought crossed my mind also. But I've come to a decision for the time being. Even though California lettuce is on sale at the cheap(???) price of $1.28 per head this week, I think I'll just bypass lettuce altogether for awhile. As much as I love a lettuce salad with my dinner, I think I'll switch to cole slaw and see how that works out. Cabbage is on sale(??) for $.50 a head. The only problem with cole slaw is the cutting and shredding of the cabbage and I no longer have the strength to do it with a knife. I'll see how it works using my food prossessor. Thanks for the suggestion and I want to thank Beth for the suggestion she sent me privately. vee