Last week I posted about lettuce soup, my favorite way to preserve lettuce that would otherwise bolt in the garden.  But if a heat wave hits your beds and you don't have the time or inclination to make and freeze a big batch of soup, there is another way.  Yes, lettuce can be frozen.

Of course, there's a catch.  Most sources say that lettuce can't be frozen, but they have no hesitation in explaining how to freeze spinach, kale, collards, mustard greens and just about every other form of leafy vegetable.

This is because Americans are so used to using lettuce raw in salads that we sometimes forget that it's also a leafy green and suitable for most cooked applications just like any other green.  When the lettuce is cooked, the heat will damage the cell structure in the same way that freezing does.

For example; I shredded, bagged and froze an extra head of romaine lettuce about a week ago when the current heat wave started.  This morning I opened the bag, tore off a few leaves, and dropped them directly onto an omelet with some crumbled feta cheese, salt, and pepper.  Instant breakfast from preserved lettuce.

For long-term storage, you will want to blanch the lettuce for a few minutes in boiling salted water (do not use steam).  But for relatively short-term freezing, I don't bother.  The end result is a little bit of extra bitterness and a little bit of extra toughness.  In moderation these just bring the lettuce closer to the flavor and texture of spinach, collards, or other frequently-frozen greens.

The rest of the bag went into another batch of soup.  This batch was a bit more bitter and spinach-like than the fresh batch, but still very tasty, especially with some added ham, cilantro, and dill.  This batch also seemed chunkier than the fresh batch, which I solved by straining it.  The color was also a bit duller, something that blanching the lettuce before freezing might have helped with.

So if you have lettuce standing in your garden and the high temperatures are creeping up on you, my advice is to shred it, freeze it, and spend the summer experimenting.

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