Culinary uses for bolted lettuce

culinary-useslettuce

Does anyone have a culinary use for a lettuce which has bolted? Or do I throw it away?

Bolting being what gardeners call that moment when your lovely full bodied lettuce suddenly shoots skywards, in order to produce seed. Once salad crops have bolted the leaves still have a good colour, but they are usually thought of as unusably bitter.

Best Answer

Bolted lettuce tastes bitter; I'd suggest putting it in your compost pile if you have one. Of course, if you like bitter greens, you could make a salad of your lettuce (perhaps with a mix of other greens) with some dried fruit, toasted nuts, and a little goat cheese; the flavors might marry well.