Several weeks ago, Jon and I were staying in New Mexico, house and dog sitting for our friends. While there, I felt inspired to do something I had seen on Pinterest at various points throughout the last few years.
After having made a salad, I took the butt or the end of a romaine lettuce head, sliced off the very end of it that was dry from sitting around in the grocery store and then placed it in water.
I’ve seen the pictures, I’ve read how it works, but I’m telling you, 3 days later when I saw the first glimmers of fresh green leaves beginning to sprouting from the stump of cut romaine… GLEE. Just. Glee!
So I posted the image above on Instagram and on Facebook and a few questions and thoughts came up in discussion. Some I’ll answer in the video below, but a few I’ll cover here:
Will the sprout roots so that I can plant them?
YES! However, I sprouted 5 and when I left the house and sprouting lettuce heads behind, only 3 of them had sprouted roots. I’m not sure if the other two would have eventually or not.
I hear they don’t taste good or are flavorless.
This isn’t a question, but it is. I read up on this and found out what is really an intuitive answer. Without soil, or water that is flushed with minerals and nutrients (such as in aquaponics or hydroponics), flavor diminishes. Had these been my plants, or rather, had I been able to be there with them for the long term, I would have eventually planted them in soil.
Can you do this with other vegetables?
YES! I don’t have a comprehensive list, but here are some you can also do this with: Carrots, onions, celery, bok choy, cabbages, and beets.
Where can I get those cute bowls?!
Ok, here’s the 411. Those cute bowls are from Target, but I went on their website and couldn’t find mention of them anywhere. They are Threshold dipping bowls. However, I went on Amazon and found these and holy cow! I now have a collection of dipping bowls that I have no idea where I’m going to store!
Certified International Tapas Ice Cream Bowl
Signature Housewares Gypsy Collection Bowls
These little bowls are awesome for sprouting, for dips, sauces, dressings, and mini side dishes, jewelry holders, desk holders and the list can go on and on. I love them!
What did the lettuce taste like?
Good! I didn’t eat them all, because they were still so young, so I left them to Becky to continue nurturing them. However, I did taste a few leaves and it was very romaine, with an extra bit of pepper flavor, which I thought was interesting.
The video below will give you a peek into what I did. It’s a shaky video, I apologize for that, but I wanted to give you a fully visual of what I did. Let me know if you do it as well. I won’t have a fully functioning kitchen for the next couple of months and won’t be able to play along.
That’s so cool! I totally didn’t know you could do that.
Charly, let me know if you try it. I’m looking forward to being in a more kitchen/garden friendly place to try it with a few other veggies!