Cut Or Tear Lettuce for a Salad Experiment

Cut or Tear Lettuce for a Salad Experiment

Experiment: Make a decision on whether it is better to cut or tear lettuce for a salad.

1. Prepare a head of iceberg lettuce by removing the center core. Cut the lettuce head in half.

2. In one bowl have some students chop the lettuce.

3. In another bowl have some students tear the lettuce.

4. The students will determine which method they think is best by observing, tasting, evaluating and recording the results on their worksheet which will be put into their notebooks.

NOTE TO TEACHER: The following is background information on salad greens.

Those who favor tearing lettuce contend "that by tearing you pull leaves apart along cell-wall borders and do less damage to the cells so the salad stays fresher and happier." A variety of shapes and sizes also occur when lettuce is torn.

Experiments show that by taking a head of lettuce and cutting half of it and tearing the other half to make salad you cannot see any difference in color or freshness. This is true even if the salads from each half are stored for a few days in plastic bags.