Claire
Master Chef
Oh, dear. I must have a cast iron stomach. I LOVE bagged greens. Especially spinach. We can't all live in Calilfornia and Florida (and many of us don't particularly like those places), and it is wonderful to be able to have a fresh baby spinach or mixed greens salads in the dead of winter. My garden lettuce will bolt in another week of warm weather, the spinach already has. No, I don't wash them (the bagged greens, that is. I do wash -- with good water, not soap, my garden greens because they're sometimes muddy and always warm. The cold water crisps them up nicely). I sometimes wonder if we aren't santizing things too much and creating such a sterile environment that people DO get sick if they come -- heaven forbid! -- in contact with a germ! Anyway, I used to hate to work with fresh spinach, even though I loved it, because it was so dirty when you'd buy it. Then if it was left too long before harvest, it could be tough if you didn't "stem" it. Give me a bag of those babies any time.