Native salads in winter Nitrate content can be reduced

Local salads even in winter
Salad needs nitrate to grow. The plants pick it up from the ground and use it for energy. For the conversion sunlight is necessary. If the sun is missing, the salads store nitrate in a particularly large amount compared to other vegetables. Salad from the field usually contains less nitrate, because it usually gets more sun than salad from protected cultivation. Even the salads from organic agriculture often have lower levels. But this is, as with all outdoor salads, weather dependent.

Also enjoy salad in winter. Image: Dani Vincek - fotolia

High nitrate levels in the salad are undesirable because some of the nitrate absorbed can be converted to nitrite by bacteria. Nitrite can then react with proteins in the body to form nitrosamines suspected of causing cancer.

For winter salads, endives and lamb's lettuce are among the high-nitrate varieties. The Lower Saxony State Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety (LAVES) found an average of 1.321 mg nitrate per kilogram in tests from 2006 to 2013 in endives and 1,931 mg / kg in lamb's lettuce on average. Salads store the unwanted substance, especially in the stalk, the thick leaf ribs and the outer leaves. In lamb's lettuce, the nitrate accumulates especially in stems and rosettes.

In order to reduce the nitrate content in the lettuce, the plant parts should be removed when brushing. Although lamb's lettuce looks less attractive as a single leaf than in rosettes, its nitrate content decreases so considerably. In addition, the salad is also easier to wash.
(Julia Icking, aid)