you are all magnificently helpful - thank you <3

[kaberett]

Today's frivolous low-stakes question is: if following a recipe, to what extent do you consider "mixed lettuces", "mixed greens", and "mixed leaf salad" synonymous?

Comments

[contrarywise]

If in a cold salad, they're as synonymous as one's tastes desire. If one is applying heat to greens, lettuces and many other greens are not an appealing option, at least for me. Spinach, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, and other leaves that can take the heat and come out tasty are greatly preferred. I once had the misfortune to be served a grilled Caesar salad wrap, and Ye Gods, that is not an experience I'm eager to repeat.

ETA: If we're just talking cold salads, I'd say mixed lettuces are a subset of mixed greens. I'd take mixed leaf salad and mixed greens as synonymous since what are greens if not leaves?

[redbird]

I've never heard "mixed leaf salad" and am not sure what it would refer to.

"Mixed lettuces" is more specific than "mixed greens." The latter is likely to include non-lettuce greens such as arugula (rocket), spinach, baby kale, and dandelion.

[shanaqui]

As one who does not prepare food, I would look puzzled but consider "mixed lettuces" more specific than the other two.

[smilingslightly]

I would expect mixed lettuces to be of easily observably different varieties - butter, speckled oak, something red, and romaine, say.

Mixed greens do not generally include lettuce: leafy brassicas, spinach, root veg tops, and the like. You might want to cook them before eating.

Mixed leaf salad is unfamiliar term. I might guess it was the same as mixed lettuce, but signaling that things like cress and radicchio are thrown in.