Vegetable
Iceberg
B tier
Iceberg is the dense, pale crisphead lettuce of American mid-century salads—maximum crunch and water, mild flavour, excellent shipping and shredding for tacos and wedges. Nutrition and perfume lag leafier types; texture is the point. Keep cold for snap. The wedge salad and burger-shred default.
Track this ingredient
Unit
Characteristics
Preparations
BurgerShredTacoWedge
Traits
CrunchyDense CrispheadHigh Water CrunchMildPaleShipping
Grading systems
Grades are placed along a shared scale so systems can be compared side by side.
US No. 2
US No. 1
History
US
Crisphead breeding in the US produced iceberg-type lettuces for rail shipping.
US
Iceberg name and iced rail cars made it a national commodity.
US
Iceberg dominated American salad plates for decades.
Leafy mixes reduced iceberg prestige while food service still relied on it.