Know Your Salad Greens

Leaf lettuce has a mild, delicate flavor and is versatile for many types of green salads. Types range from green to red and gold colored varieties.	Spinach has a mildly hearty flavor and is often used raw in salads. It also can be stir-fried or lightly steamed.
Radicchio can be bitter and peppery-tasting when eaten alone, but small amounts add a nice accent to other greens. It is very popular in Italian style salads, and also works well lightly steamed and served in a mixed vegetable side dish.	Romaine has large, crisp leaves and a slightly sharp flavor that make this the classic lettuce for Caesar salad and other strong flavored salad dressings.
Swiss chard has large stems with a delicate flavor similar to celery; leaves have a hearty spinach-like flavor. It too can be cooked by stir-frying or lightly steaming.	Arugula has a peppery, pungent flavor that is an ideal contrast when mixed with milder greens. It is also often used steamed or stir-fried.
Curly endive has a mildly bitter flavor and adds visual interest to salads. The finely cut leaves hold salad dressing particularly well.	Mesculun mixes contain a number of mixed greens - any of the above as well as skyrocket, mustard leaves, and other small leaf greens. For the larger growing leaf varieties in the mix, the leaves are meant to be harvested when very small.