- It’s usually an ugly color
- It doesn’t taste as good (radicchio is the exception)
- It goes bad sooner than all the other greens in the salad mix
- And mostly, you can’t tell when it’s gone bad because IT’S THE SAME COLOR IT ALWAYS WAS
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I assume you’ve stopped buying it.
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I actually enjoy red lettuce when I need lettuce and buy a head of red lettuce. But I’m with you on the salad mix. Somehow blending it with other greens means it has to turn bad 3x faster than all the other bits. In fact, it probably is starting to go bad once packaged. Why include it? It adds nothing new in terms of taste and texture to a salad mix that already has other leafy lettuces.
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It seems like a softer lettuce. I like it, but I think that’s why it goes off faster in bagged salad mix than the other lettuce.
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I agree about the color. But when my mother was in her 80’s, red leaf lettuce was her only choice, because her dentures were wearing out, and it was the easiest to chew (more so than green leaf lettuce, or so she claimed).
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I must say I have not noticed this, but I don’t buy as much lettuce as I do other produce. Does this seem true of all lettuce that is red, regardless of variety? I am just beginning to explore the specifics of “not Romain”, especially versions of “little gem”.
Little Gem
Romain
Butterhead “Red Cross”
Merveille de Quatre Saisons ("Marvel of Four Seasons ". Looks better in French), also a butterhead. I grew this one last spring!
Results of a red lettuce seeds search from Johnny
https://www.johnnyseeds.com/search/?q=Red+lettuce&lang=en_US1
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I just edited my reply to specify that I meant red LEAF lettuce. I’ve never had red romaine. Digression relative to your greens options: I adore green frisée, not sure if that’s the only color. At its heart, it is pale yellow-green. Also pricey, bitter, tough, and hard to find. BUT, if I see a smallish head of curly chicory or curly escarole and can see that it’s yellowish inside, I buy it because its attributes are identical and it costs much less. The tough dark green parts aren’t wasted; I chop and cream them, like spinach, but cooked lower and longer. The appeal of frisée, as in Salade á Lardons, is its contrast with softer salad ingredients. It’s best with a sweetish dressing.
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Oh. And now I see the reference to salad mix. I got carried away, thinking about fall plantings.
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I like a nice salad . Especially with red leaf.
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À chacun á son góut, I suppose.
I like it.
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I like red leaf lettuce (a green leaf with red at the edge of its leaf) , but dislike the burgundy leaf (not radicchio) in mesclun mix.
I grew a speckled trout lettuce, but ended up composting most of it . The speckles were a little offputting, and I wasn’t using it before it was past its prime.
I had no idea so many varieties were available for sale https://www.harrisseeds.com/collections/red-leaf-lettuce.
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I like it, too, especially in those ALDI 3-packs of little gem lettuce. I like a nice mix of lettuces in my salads without having to buy 4 ginormous heads of different things.
I do get the issue of not being able to tell as easily if it’s gone bad 
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BOTH of ^^these^^. I do buy it when I can buy a small head on my own. I never buy bagged salad mix, so unless I store the whole head of lettuce properly (paper towels draped around the lettuce, changed every couple of days to avoid the excessive moisture from building up), it does go bad quickly. But when I’m building my own composed salad, I like the color differentiation of the base of torn lettuce leaves on which the rest of my stuff is placed.
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Whereas I despise getting frisée in purchased salads (i.e., from a restaurant) because it’s always large stalks that haven’t been torn down enough for easier eating. Virtually impossible to spear appropriately without slags of dressing getting on the side of your face because the frisée leaves and stems are too big.
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Beautiful!! Home grown is best. I’ve never found store bought red lettuce desirable.
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Interesting- I never realized that it went bad faster in mixed greens, that’s probably one of the main reasons I dislike it- I try to avoid the mixes with red lettuce, and I’m not wild about the taste so I’ve not bought it separately.
I posted right after going through a big bag of spring mix and picking out the rotting red lettuce. Made me mad, almost a half hour wasted. I hope I got it all, the rotten stuff tastes way worse than the fresh.
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Red romaine probably would be okay. I’ll have to get some red lettuce and try it by itself.
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I actually love frisee. Escarole too. I may have to grow some red lettuce to see if I like it. As hot as it’s been it’s going to be months before I can plant any, though
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How do you get chives to grow in the summer? Mine’s been struggling.
