


Refrigerate romaine immediately after receiving. Because it’s said to have originated on the Aegean island of Cos, Romaine is also called Cos lettuce. Romaine is the classic lettuce of choice for Caesar salads. Romaine is the most nutritious of all lettuce varieties. Leaf color ranges from dark green outer leaves to greenish-yellow inner leaves. GreenGate Fresh is a leafy greens grower and processor located in Salinas, California.Romaine lettuce grows in a long head of long, narrow leaves which have a firm rib down their centers. I would like to thank GreenGate Fresh and Fresh Avenue for the visit and for allowing the gathered content to be shared.
#ROMAINE HEARTS HOW TO#
(Click here for more tips on how to wash your fruits and vegetables.) Featured Grower Information If there is no indication that they have been previously washed, you should wash them before eating with water only. It is during those transition periods when the majority of food safety (recall and outbreak) issues occur.

Each region produces the bulk of the leafy greens for 4-6 months out of the year, and then the majority of operations transition to the other growing region (read more on that here). The two primary growing regions for leafy greens in the United States are the Salinas Valley (in California) and the Imperial Valley/Yuma, Arizona region. (However, there are a few operations that have started to try to make use of this product and will use it to make veggie powders and products of that sort.) Why are romaine hearts commonly associated with food safety recalls and outbreaks? The product that is left in the field gets disced back into the soil. In the romaine heart harvesting process, there is a lot of product that does not get harvested. To see an overview of a romaine heart harvest and how romaine hearts come to be, check out the video below.įrequently Asked Questions Is this excess product disced back into the soil? The conveyor belt that moves the large bins to the adjacent vehicle that comes to transport the harvested productĪll of the things that need to be sanitized are:.The conveyor belt moving the harvested totes to the larger bins.The harvesting rig that is moving along with the tractor that is steering it.The harvest crew has to keep up with each other, the machinery, and maintain the harvesting rig in a sanitary condition. However, another way to harvest romaine hearts is to leave the upper portion of the leaves and to package them in the field.)Īlthough the footage makes this seem as though it is a seamless process, there are a lot of moving parts.

(These specific romaine hearts are going to further processing and, for that reason, are being cut in this way to help create their desired product. After the initial harvest cut, they remove the darker green outer leaves to expose the lighter leaves and also remove a portion of the leaves at the top. They work alongside the harvesting rig and the other workers and need to make sure they are keeping pace. Romaine hearts can be found in packaged salads, packaged as whole romaine hearts in sealed bags, Caesar salads, and in specialty dishes. This results in just the romaine heart portion, with the lighter, crisper leaves in the middle of the romaine lettuce. During the romaine heart harvest, the romaine lettuce goes through a processing step to become romaine hearts, where the harvesters remove the outer leaves. Heads of romaine lettuce consist of darker green leaves on the outer portion and lighter green leaves on the interior. What is the Difference Between Romaine Lettuce and Romaine Hearts?įull heads of romaine are harvested when being sold as romaine lettuce (as we saw with the harvesting of baby romaine lettuce).
