Salads are a great opportunity to explore a variety of raw green leaves to add flavour, nutrition, colour and texture. Look for the young leaves as they tend to be sweeter, milder and more tender and instead of chopping them up they can be added whole and thus maintain their beautiful shape.
Fruits can add a delicious and unique quality as well or take the place of other ingredients to assist you in reducing food waste. Flowers add colour and texture to the salad and also have unique flavours of their own.
Greens
Nasturtium leaves are either variegated or plain green and are perfectfully round in shape. They add a spicy peppery quality to the salad and are an excellent source of vitamins A, C, and D, beta-carotene, iron, manganese, and flavonoids.
The flowers also add spice and colour to the salad
Radish leaves have a mild flavor. They are high in vitamin C, vitamin A, iron, magnesium, manganese and glucosinolates - cancer fighting compounds. Harvesting the leaves will cause the roots to die so make sure to harvest the leaves and roots
at the same time. The flowers are also edible and slightly spicy.
Ceylon spinach has a thick, slightly gelatinous texture and are a beautiful glossy dark green colour. It is high in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, protein, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. It also contains the anti-aging antioxidants beta carotene and lutein.
Other healthy and delicious greens to add to the salad include young amaranth leaves and their toasted or popped seeds, sweet potato leaves, mustard greens, mizuna, rocket, purslane, broccoli leaves.
Fruits
Lemons or other citrus fruits used instead of vinegar in a salad dressing adds vitamin C. Slice cumquat thinly to add to salads, Its small size makes it a perfect tasty and colourful addition. Thinly sliced starfruit also adds visual appeal while adding a tangy piquancy to the salad.
Other fruits to add interest and flavour include figs, grilled peach, green papaya, grilled pineapple, watermelon, apple, mango, grapes, grapefruit, pear, lychee and mandarin.
Flowers
Flowers add colour and sweetness to salads. Dianthus is easy to grow among other vegetables.
There are many edible flowers to add to salads including marigolds, cornflowers, dandelions, hibiscus, pansy, rose petals, citrus flowers, onion family flowers, borage, coriander, fennel, ginger, lavender, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, thyme, broccoli florets, mustard, pea, radish, beans, zucchini, violets, pineapple sage and Nasturtium
Seeds for salads
Many seeds from the garden are edible and plentiful such as:
sunflower
pumpkin
coriander
dill
okra
peas
beans