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On the recent trip to the produce market, we couldn’t help but noticed the incredible variety of greens that are available today-compared to the pale, white, mostly water, iceberg lettuce that was the only game in town when we were growing up.

Who had ever heard of arugula or radicchio or endive? And watercress was something that was not very enticing and found on little finger sandwiches. Spinach was punishment food that always over-cooked and only Popeye really enjoyed it.

Some regional cuisines in United States have always included nutrient-rich cooked greens, but the move to darker, more nutritious greens in salads has been a more recent trend.

And this is very good thing because with the emphasis in the American diet shifting  away from high fat foods and towards more fruits, vegetables and whole grains, it is necessary to get more out of greens than iceberg lettuce can offer, and salads are wonderful way to do this.

Iceberg lettuce is just a little more nutritious than water. It has very little Vitamin A (converted from beta carotene), Vitamin C or Calcium. The only salad green that ranks as low (or lower, in some cases) is Belgian endive.

On the opposite end of the spectrum are dandelion greens and kale, which are so high in some nutrients, that you can actually meet a lot of your daily needs with them alone. When people talk about “greens” they often mean leafy green vegetables, which are meant to be cooked. Lettuce on the hand is what we refer to as salad greens and is almost always eaten raw. However, the small, young leaves of almost any greens can be used in salad; they not only will add variety, but will raise the nutritional value enormously.

Although many greens are well known and a few are regional favorites, there are some less common varieties that often go unnoticed except in trendy, gourmet shops and restaurants.