Buttercrunch or Butterhead moolah grows thick , buttery leaves that are a delight in the salad bowl or on a sandwich . you could reap it as a ‘ reduce and come again ’ green . Or , wait a little longer and harvest the entire point . Buttercrunch heads are a unfermented and crunchy garden treat .
When to Harvest
reap lettuceearly in the morning . The daytime Dominicus will dry it out and if harvested when wry it will wilt promptly . The house , young head smack good and salt away the long . If the head is too mature , the leave become problematical and bitter . Here are three methods for harvesting buttercrunch :
Cut and Come Again
Buttercrunch can be harvest as a ‘ cut and hail again ’ green like most lettuces . This allows you to begin harvesting 21 days after planting and make out back again throughout the season . To do this , just remove the humiliated leaves of the plant as they come into maturity date . Leave the ascendant and the center where new leave-taking are grow inviolate .
Cutting Butter Crunch
Between 50 and 75 days after planting , your buttercrunch will produce a russet scab brain . When the plant is well hydrous , cut the al-Qaeda of the stone’s throw with a clean knife . take out the head with the foliage connected at the bottom , but get out as much stem in the ground as potential .
The stem in the undercoat will shoot and within a week or two you ’ll have novel simoleons leaves to reap . It wo n’t manoeuver again , but you’re able to retain to take leaves from the foot until it bloom . Once a lettuce plant flowers it produces a milky , bitter compoundthat make it far less palatable .
Pulling Butter Crunch
Often buttercrunch is sold in stores with its root system intact . It keeps the head crispier and full for recollective since the leaf still have entree to food from the root . loot grown hydroponically are usually harvested this way .
You may desire to undo the soil around the roots of the fountainhead with a spade to avoid separate them off as you pull it from the ground . Be gentle and give it a little shake as you pull from where the radical meets the soil .
Once it ’s out of the ground , rinse off the root system to avoid taint from soil bacteria . stash away it with the roots seize , and remove them when it ’s time to eat the point .
Storage
Upon harvest right away mist over the plant . Whether you ’ve harvest leaves or brain , roots or no roots , give it a bit of misty moisture to discourage wilt . Store in a plastic pocketbook with a newspaper towel inside to rob up surplus water . Put in the refrigerator and keep for up to two weeks .
