Cooking in Hawaii: Manoa Lettuce, My Favorite Salad Greens
Shredded Manoa Lettuce Next to a Head of Manoa Lettuce
NOTE: DoT has been posting from Honolulu since late July when she left California to help her mother through some medical procedures. She will be doing so until she can return to Orange County.
DoT’s Thot: Living in various places exposes to new foods, tastes, and enjoyment. I have enjoyed all the different exposure to Indian food, various Chinese cuisines, even Muslim Chinese cooking. Italian, French, Swedish food all give their own special experiences. Mexican food in California is varied and interesting. However, there are some things uniquely Hawaiian. One of these is the salad greens that are the ultimate for me — Manoa Lettuce.
Manoa Lettuce, a Tender, Crispy, and Refreshing Salad Green
I grew up eating Manoa lettuce and remember growing it off and on throughout my life. Manoa lettuce has a combination of tenderness and crispy, juicy texture that has been unmatched by all the other greens that I have eaten — mache is a special tender French salad green that has the tenderness, but not the combined crispy, juicy stem texture.
Iceberg is crispy, but does not have the tender green leafy quality of Manoa lettuce. Romaine lettuce is a lot hardier, but is a lot more to chew than Manoa Lettuce. I remember seeing this lettuce also labeled Green Mignonette and ordered some of those seeds, but have never grown “Manoa lettuce” from such seeds in California. Growing conditions are different and my lettuce was never as tender as that which Mom and I grew back home in Hawaii.
Ahi Sahimi On a Bed of Manoa Lettuce
Manoa Lettuce is a Bonus for the Elderly Who Still Enjoy a Raw Salad
I prize this lettuce now, especially, because at 92, my mother does not chew as well as she used to. With Manoa lettuce, she can munch her way through a salad like she has always done before and thoroughly enjoy it. Just about any oriental dressing (ume dressing, sesame dressing, even somen dressing for noodles works) makes for a delicious green Manoa Lettuce salad.
Any of your favorite salad fixings would enhance the salad. I also use Manoa lettuce as a shredded bed for her sashimi and she can eat the lettuce along with her sashimi, another added nutritional bonus. These are the reasons that Manoa lettuce is my very favorite salad greens. I have only been able to buy it here in Hawaii and always try to eat my fill of Manoa lettuce salad before going back to California. If I am here at the right time of year, I have planted seedlings for my mother to enjoy after I leave. I love this lettuce that much.
Aloha, DoT
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