Bitter Lettuce

[pki]

I know too much heat, [we have], plus being older makes lettuce bitter.

I'm middleman between several organic dirt farmers, and local resorts.

Today they rejected 10 kg Romaine lettuce, because it was too bitter.

We have alkaline soil here, [limestone], plus rain comes down with pH near 8
Acid is sour, alkaline is bitter.

If my AP is pH 6.5, will this reduce alkalinity, ergo bitterness in lettuce?
Pete

[Pugo]

I was always told that to much sun made lettuce bitter. You may want to try growing some under a shade cloth. I but I like my loose leaf lettuce with a little bite to it. You could try growing oak leaf lettuce, does a great job in the heat.

[Damon]

from what i learned is lettuce really likes it to get no hotter than 70 degrees F. what i noticed is in the hawaiian summer the temp was above 80 degrees F every day. the amount of direct sunlight and high heat caused the lettuce to mature early. the lettuce would bolt a few weeks ahead of schedual and start the seeding process. the bitterness is to preserve the lettuce while its in this process. i guess even animals are picky about taste.

you might have to quicken your harvest cycles. at one point we were harvesting lettuce that was in the system 3-4 weeks. no where near its maturity length in the system making each individual head of lettuce smaller in size, but it helped preserve the edible taste.

really in the aspect of logistics there shouldnt be a problem when it comes to yeald rates. yes you're going to have to harvest more square footage to meet your yeild, but since you're harvesting lettuce sooner in it's life cycle, the shorter time spent in the system could offset the amount of square footage you'd need to harvest.

maily if you're square footage necessary to harvest is doubled, but your growing time is cut in half, you're still at equilibrium.

the only problem is labor cost if you're not harvesting yourself. its takes alot more time to harvest alot of smaller heads of lettuce. if you're selling solid heads of romaine... you're kind of stuck selling small heads. if you're selling bags of leaf lettuce... prepare for longer work days.

just a thought,

[pki]

Appreciate your input, am I off base thinking pH growing conditions should affect bitterness, anyone?

[Damon]

i would say that you're on to something, but it mightnot be the whole problem. i mean hawaiian coffee and columbian coffe taste different because of inherent soil ph differences... sulphuric acid in the soil in hawaii give 100% kona coffe that batery acid taste. lol.

i know that ph is important for the survivability of the plant, but im not sure if it manifests in all plants the same as far as taste goes. i mean logically you're on base to think that, but im not completely fluent on compound retention in all plants.

[Pugo]

OH! I miss Kona coffee haven't had that for a very long time. Here is Asia everything is more like espresso style. I don't think PH would affect the flavor but it does determine what nutrients are absorbed or allowed to be absorbed by the plant. I noticed that organic vegetables are smaller than normal, But romaine lettuce tips were always bitter they had to be cut off. something like the first two inches have to be removed, as they are to bitter to be eaten to begin with. I remember that from when a kid working in a restaurant.

[GaryD]

Hi,

I but I like my loose leaf lettuce with a little bite to it. You could try growing oak leaf lettuce, does a great job in the heat.

Many salad plants produce bitter-tasting leaves.

I've found that, if I keep lettuce for too long (a matter of days after their "prime"), they become bitter.

Many bitter plants are deemed desirable from a health perspective. Perhaps in choosing lettuce which is not bitter we have sacrificed nutritional and health benefits in the interests of blandness.

We eat many foods (including vegetables, fish, chicken, pork, beef) when very young and, in so doing we trade taste for tenderness.....and ease of cooking.

Perhaps, we should be educating our salad green market to the health benefits of bitter salad vegetables.

I'm with Pugo.....I like a bit of bite in my salad greens.

Gary

[keith_r]

i thought i read somewhere that shocking the lettuce in an icewater bath right after picking will help with bitterness.. could be wrong though..

[Damon]

keith... im sorry to say that it didnt work... staep one of our harvest is ice bath... didnt work man. lol.

[keith_r]

ha... maybe that's where i read it...thanks!