Does the lettuce need a shower?

During shopping trips to Costco, I often come home with a 1 lb. tub of organic mixed lettuce. I suspect that it's hydroponically grown, but I don't know this for a fact.

Part of me believes that I should rinse it before I eat it. Part of me is lazy and doesn't want to be bothered. There's no visible dirt, no pesticide residue to try to rinse off, and I believe that it keeps better in the refrigerator if it stays drier. And then the voice of my mother that I internalized all those decades ago starts murmuring in appalled tones about eating unwashed lettuce.

Opinions? Advice?

Giovanna

What I do is wash it and spin it dry in a salad spinner, wrap it in paper towels and store it in a ziploc bag.

Giovanna wrote:There's no visible dirt, no pesticide residue to try to rinse off, and I believe that it keeps better in the refrigerator if it stays drier.

Opinions? Advice?

Giovanna

Yo Gio,

We get the same tubs. We keep them in the tubs until we're ready to use, and then I rinse the leaves right before consuming. I seem to recall searching for the "triple washed" assurance, and seeing none, assumed they didn't want to assume liability for not being 100% clean, and washed it for my own peace of mind.

I would not wash before refrigerating.

Hammond

What nutrient sources are available for organic hydroponics? Manure tea, compost tea and fish emulsion come to mind for when you can't use synthetic fertilizers. Conventional hydroponics uses what the organic people call synthetic fertilizers. Aphids are the most likely pest problem in greenhouse lettuce (add slugs for outdoors). Insecticidal soaps, pyrethrum (from pyrethrum daisy petals) and rotenone (from a tropical root) are used by both organic growers and many conventional growers to control aphids. I would wash lettuce regardless of organic or not.

HI,

Those fine lettuces in the Costco tub I find difficult to clean especially as they tend to stick together. So I have decided to accept the marketing claim, at least it was there early on, of triple washed and simply throw them into the bowl.

When I buy leaf lettuce and Romaine lettuce, I wash them, spin out the water, lay them out in a single layer on a kitchen towel and roll them up using light rubber bands to keep it together. I have clean chilled salad when needed.

At Costco, I also buy those huge bags of spinach. Simply due to their volume, I try to use them fast.