Why Should You Dry Lettuce?

Before mixing lettuce leaves with the dressing and other ingredients, the leaves should be dried thoroughly after washing. Otherwise, there is a risk that the dressing will be too watered down and the finished salad will not taste good. Also, the dressing doesn’t stick well to wet lettuce leaves and the texture of the leaves stays less crisp, they wilt faster. Lettuce can be dried in a number of ways – the easiest way to do this is to use a salad spinner, which mechanically dries the leaves.

With a salad spinner, lettuce and water are separated from each other by centrifugal force. The lettuce leaves, which are still damp after washing, are placed in the perforated inner container of the salad spinner, which is then set in motion mechanically – driven by a crank, for example. If the lettuce rotates at the appropriate speed, the washing water adhering to the leaves rolls off. It escapes through the openings in the basket and drains down, where it is collected in a container. The basic principle of a salad spinner is similar to that of a spin dryer.

Salad spinners are available in both solid form, consisting of a rotating sieve basket in a bowl, and in the form of a so-called spin bag. A sling bag is manually operated – here a small perforated bag is inside a large waterproof bag. When spinning by hand, the water escapes, and the lettuce in the inner bag is freed from damp residues.

Lettuce can be dried even without a mechanical salad spinner or spin bag. To do this, wrap the wet leaves in a dry tea towel. Swirling this salad “package” or giving it a good shake will also cause excess water to roll off the leaves, leaving the salad crisp enough to easily dress with a vinaigrette.