Vegetables Produce Facts English
Lettuce, Romaine
Recommendations for Maintaining Postharvest Quality
![]() Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis
Maturity & Quality
Maturity Indices Romaine or cos lettuce is an elongated heading lettuce type. Maturity is based on the number of leaves and head development. A very loose or easily compressible head is immature and a very firm or hard head is overmature. Heads that are immature ( Quality Indices After trimming outer leaves, the leaves should be a bright to dark green color (tinged with red in the red romaine cultivars) with the inner leaves of the head being yellow or light green. The bright to dark green of romaine leaves is indicative of higher vitamin A and vitamin C contents relative to iceberg lettuce types. Leaves should be crisp and turgid, and free from insects, decay or mechanical damage (U.S. Grade No. 1). Different romaine varieties may vary in sweetness and bitterness.
Temperature & Controlled Atmosphere
Optimum Temperature 0°C (32°F) is required to optimize the postharvest life of romaine lettuce. A shelf-life of around 21 days is expected at this temperature. At 5°C (41°F) a shelf-life of about 14 days can be expected as long as no ethylene is in the environment. Water spray-vacuum cooling or hydrocooling are often used for romaine lettuce, but forced-air cooling may also be used. Relative Humidity >95% Rates of Respiration Romaine lettuce heads have moderate respiration rates, but they are generally higher than rates for iceberg lettuce:
To calculate heat production multiply mL CO2/kg·hr by 440 to get Btu/ton/day or by 122 to get kcal/metric ton/day. Ethylene production rates are very low: Responses to Ethylene Romaine lettuce is sensitive to ethylene. Ethylene damage appears as discolored spots on the midrib. These are generally larger and less defined than those found with ethylene-induced Russet spotting on iceberg lettuce (see physiological disorders). Varieties can vary significantly in their susceptibility to ethylene. Some benefit to shelf-life can be obtained with low O2 atmospheres (1-3%) at temperatures of 0-5°C (32-41°F). Low O2 atmospheres will reduce respiration rates and reduce the detrimental effects of ethylene. Intact heads are not generally benefited by atmospheres containing CO2 and injury may occur with >5% CO2 (see physiological disorders, brown stain). Cut Romaine lettuce, however, is commonly packaged in low O2 (<1%) and high CO2 (7-10%) atmospheres because these conditions control browning on the cut surfaces. On salad pieces, cut surface browning occurs more rapidly and more extensively than do symptoms of brown stain caused by CO2. Cut iceberg lettuce tolerates higher CO2 concentrations than cut romaine lettuce. Temperature & Controlled Atmosphere Photos
Disorders
Physiological and Physical Disorders
Date
August 2001 |
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How to Cite
Author(s) names. Initial publication or update date (located at the top). Title. Link to the specific Produce Fact Sheet webpage (Accessed date)
Example: Cantwell, M. and T. Suslow. 2002. Lettuce, Crisphead: Recommendations for Maintaining Postharvest Quality.
http://ucanr.edu/sites/Postharvest_Technology_Center_/Commodity_Resources/Fact_Sheets/Datastores/Vegetables_English/?uid=19&ds=799 (Accessed January 18, 2014).