What is the difference between lettuce and lettuce leaves? Which is more nutritious?

Are lettuce and lettuce leaves the same vegetable? It's only now that I figured out that I've been wrong all these years. In the hot summer, people like to eat more green vegetables to supplement the body with water and various vitamins. In recent years, people's living standards are getting higher and higher, and there are more and more types of vegetables. There are many kinds of vegetables on the market. In addition to the varieties we grew up with, there are many more that we have never seen before. For example, lettuce and lettuce have only appeared in the vegetable market in our northeast in recent years. Most of the green leafy vegetables that were often eaten in childhood were vegetables such as lettuce, rapeseed and spinach.

We have eaten lettuce for many years, and especially like to stir-fry it with minced garlic, which is very refreshing. Lettuce has only been eaten in recent years. At the beginning, I only ate the stem and not the leaves. Later, an aunt told me that the leaves of the lettuce were also delicious. Later, I found out that lettuce leaves are very similar to lettuce, and the taste is almost the same. The difference is that the lettuce will have some fragrance after cooking. So a question arose in my mind, are lettuce and lettuce leaves the same vegetable?

lettuce

Lettuce, also known as barley, is a sharp-leafed lettuce with young shoots and young leaves as the product. It contains a large amount of vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and a large amount of calcium, iron, and other nutrients. It is the top grade of raw vegetables and is known as "phoenix tail".

lettuce leaves

Asteraceae, lettuce genus, annual herb with wrinkled leaves. Rich in vitamins and carotene, people usually only eat the stem when eating lettuce. In fact, lettuce leaves have more nutritional value. The content of vitamins in lettuce leaves is generally higher than that of stems, the content of carotene in leaves is 10 times higher than that in stems, the content of vitamin B1 is 2 times that of stems, the content of vitamin B2 is 5 times that of stems, and the content of vitamin C is 3 times that of stems. . The content of niacin in leaves is not only higher than that in stems, but its antioxidant effect is also better. In addition, the leaves also contain a lot of calcium, it would be a pity to discard them.

The difference between lettuce and lettuce leaves

Lettuce and lettuce leaves look similar, but are quite different. In appearance, lettuce leaves are slender and flat, and the stem is very short. The leaves of lettuce are similar in shape to lettuce leaves, but the length is short, and the leaves are wide and the leaves will have some folds. Distinguished from the growth environment, lettuce has strong adaptability, heat resistance and cold resistance. And lettuce prefers cooler climates. In terms of nutritional value, lettuce contains a large amount of vitamin A, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and a large amount of calcium, iron, and other nutrients, and its nutritional value is far superior to that of lettuce leaves.

Lettuce and lettuce leaves are very simple to make. Both have a crisp and refreshing taste, so they are not suitable for too complicated methods. Northerners like to eat them raw with dipping sauce. Southerners like to stir-fry them. Let’s make a refreshing and fragrant dish. of garlic lettuce.

Clean the lettuce, cut it into sections for later use, and cut the garlic into minced garlic. Pour a small amount of oil in the pot, add minced garlic and fry until the garlic fragrance is released. This step is the key to the fragrance of the garlic and lettuce. The minced garlic should not be fried to a paste. . Then put in the lettuce and fry until the lettuce changes color. Generally, it is enough to fry for two or three minutes. The taste will not be refreshing after a long time of frying. After frying, turn off the heat and add a small amount of salt and oyster sauce. No special seasoning is required, which can maintain the fragrance of the lettuce.

The above is the practice of garlic lettuce, lettuce leaves can also be made in the same way, the taste is very close, but the lettuce tastes more fragrant. Some vegetable stall owners will use lettuce leaves to pretend to be lettuce. After learning the above differences, you can quickly identify which is the lettuce. The most intuitive is that the lettuce leaves are slender, the lettuce leaves are short and wide, and the color of the lettuce leaves is biased. Dark green, lettuce is emerald green.