When it comes to lettuce, even nonexperts can predict the relative nutritional value of each type of salad green. In general, the darker the leaf of the lettuce, the more nutritious it is. As you might expect from its medium-green color, buttercrunch lettuce's health value is somewhere between pale, low-vitamin iceberg lettuce and the nutritional powerhouse of dark green Romaine salad greens.
Description
Buttercrunch is a cultivar of butterhead lettuce. Butterheads form recognizable heads, as opposed to leafy varities like Simpson lettuce, though butterheads aren't as tightly formed as iceberg or Romaine lettuce. Along with buttercrunch, Bibb lettuce and Boston lettuce are also in the butterhead salad green family. The leaves of butterhead lettuces are small and medium green to pale green. Their soft texture inspired the lettuce group's common name, butterhead. In a mixed-green salad, buttercrunch's sweet taste contrasts well with the stronger flavors of a green such as Romaine.
Calories, Fat and Carbs
Each 1-cup serving of chopped or shredded buttercrunch lettuce contains only about 7 calories. It also has less than 1 g fat and 1.2 g carbohydrates. In terms of its friendliness to people counting carbs, calories or fat grams, buttercrunch lettuce is on par with other lettuce types, including iceberg and Romaine.
Fiber and Protein
Like most vegetables, buttercrunch lettuce is a poor source of protein, providing less than 1 g. With 0.6 g fiber, buttercrunch provides about 2 percent of your recommended daily value (DV) for dietary fiber. Buttercrunch is lower in fiber than nutrient-dense Romaine and crunchy lettuces like iceberg, which provide 4 percent of the DV of dietary fiber.
Vitamins
Buttercrunch lettuce provides almost 70 percent of your DV for vitamin K, the nutrient responsible for proper clotting of blood. It also contributes more than one-third of your daily vitamin A needs. Vitamin A encourages strong vision and helps you fight infection. Additionally, buttercrunch offers 10 percent of your DV for folate, a nutrient that supports healthy pregnancies, brain development and may fight depression. Buttercrunch is higher in vitamin K than even Romaine lettuce but is not as high in vitamin A or folate.
Minerals
Each 1-cup serving of chopped or shredded buttercrunch lettuce provides between 2 and 5 percent of the DV for calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and manganese. The mineral content of butterhead-type lettuces is about the same as that in Romaine or iceberg lettuces.
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