View source for Salad

{{Short description|Food mixture, served chilled or at room temperature}}
{{About|the type of culinary dish}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Salad
| image            = Salad platter.jpg
| caption          = A ''garden salad'' [[Platter (dinner)|platter]] served with bread and dressing on the side, consisting of [[lettuce]], [[beetroot]], [[cucumber]], [[scallion]]s, [[cherry tomato]]es, [[olive]]s, [[sun-dried tomato]]es, and [[feta]]
| alternate_name   = 
| country          = 
| region           = 
| creator          = 
| course           =
| type             =
| main_ingredient  = Pieces of [[vegetable]]s, [[fruit]]s, [[Eggs as food|eggs]], or [[grain]]s mixed with a [[sauce]].
| variations       = Many
| calories         = 
| other            = 
}}

A '''salad''' is a [[Dish (food)|dish]] consisting of mixed ingredients, frequently vegetables. They are typically served chilled or at room temperature, though some can be served warm. Condiments called ''[[salad dressing]]s'', which exist in a variety of flavors, are usually used to make a salad. 

{{anchor|gardensalad}}'''Garden salads''' have a base of raw [[leafy greens]] (sometimes young "baby" greens) such as [[lettuce]], [[arugula]] (rocket), [[kale]] or [[spinach]]; they are common enough that the word ''salad'' alone often refers specifically to garden salads. Other types of salad include [[bean salad]], [[tuna salad]], bread salads (such as [[fattoush]], [[panzanella]]), vegetable salads without leafy greens (such as [[Greek salad]], [[potato salad]], [[coleslaw]]), rice-, [[pasta salad|pasta]]- and [[noodle]]-based salads, [[fruit salad]]s and [[dessert salad]]s.

Salads may be served at any point during a meal:
*[[Appetizer]] salads – light, smaller-portion salads served as the first course of the meal
*[[Side dish|Side]] salads – to accompany the main course as a side dish; examples include potato salad and coleslaw
*[[Main course]] salads – usually containing a portion of one or more high-[[protein foods]], such as [[Eggs as food|eggs]], [[legume]]s, or [[cheese]]
*[[Dessert]] salads – sweet salads containing [[fruit]], [[gelatin]], sweeteners or [[whipped cream]]
When a sauce is used to flavor a salad, it is generally called a ''dressing''; most salad dressings are based on either a [[Vinaigrette|mixture of oil and vinegar]] or a creamy dairy base.

== Etymology ==
The word "salad" comes to English from the [[French language|French]] ''salade'' of the same meaning, itself an abbreviated form of the earlier [[Vulgar Latin]] ''herba salata'' (salted herb), from the [[Latin]] ''salata'' (salted), from ''sal'' (salt). In English, the word first appears as "salad" or "sallet" in the 14th century. Salt is associated with salad because vegetables were seasoned with [[brine]] (a solution of salt in water) or salty oil-and-vinegar dressings during [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] times.<ref name="etymonline">{{OEtymD|salad}}</ref>
The phrase "[[salad days]]", meaning a "time of youthful inexperience" (based on the notion of "green"), is first recorded by Shakespeare in 1606,<ref name="etymonline" /> while the use of [[salad bar]], referring to a [[buffet]]-style serving of salad ingredients, first appeared in [[American English]] in 1937.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Definition of SALAD BAR |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/salad+bar |access-date=2022-06-23 |website=www.merriam-webster.com |language=en}}</ref>

== History ==
[[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] ate mixed greens with dressing, a type of '''mixed salad'''.<ref name=OlverL>{{cite web |url=http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodsalads.html |title=The Food Timeline: history notes--salad |work=[[The Food Timeline]] |first=Lynne |last=Olver |author-link=Lynne Olver}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salad-recipe.net/Salad-history.htm|title=salad-recipe.net|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051103053551/http://www.salad-recipe.net/Salad-history.htm|archive-date=3 November 2005}}</ref> Salads, including layered and dressed salads, have been popular in Europe since the Greek and Roman imperial expansions. In his 1699 book, ''[[Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets]]'', often considered the first book on salads,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Main |first=C. F. |date=2012-06-12 |title=John Evelyn's Salads |url=http://jrul.libraries.rutgers.edu/index.php/jrul/article/view/1630 |journal=The Journal of the Rutgers University Libraries |volume=45 |issue=2 |doi=10.14713/jrul.v45i2.1630 |issn=0036-0473|doi-access=free }}</ref> [[John Evelyn]] attempted with little success to encourage his fellow Britons to eat fresh salad greens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cheftalk.com/cooking_articles/Food_History/78-The_History_Of_Salad.html|title=The History of Salad|date=17 February 2010|work=ChefTalk.com|access-date=20 October 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090605000630/http://www.cheftalk.com/cooking_articles/Food_History/78-The_History_Of_Salad.html|archive-date=5 June 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], ate boiled [[celery root]] over greens covered with creamy mustard dressing, [[truffle]]s, [[chervil]], and slices of [[hard-boiled egg]]s.<ref name="etymonline" />

Oil used on salads can be found in ancient Greece and ancient Rome,<ref name=OlverL /> and also in the 17th-century colony of [[New Netherland]] (later called New York, New Jersey and Delaware). A list of common items arriving on ships and their designated prices when appraising cargo included "a can of salad oil at 1.10 florins" and "an anker of wine vinegar at 16 florins".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/files/3414/0152/0685/Volume_V_-_Council_Minutes_1652-1654.pdf|title=Council Minutes page 78}}</ref> In a 1665 letter to the Director of New Netherland from [[Curaçao|the Island of Curaçao]] there is a request to send greens: "I request most amicably that your honors be pleased to send me seed of every sort, such as cabbage, carrots, lettuce, parsley, etc. for none can be acquired here and I know that your honor has plenty,...".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/application/files/4216/8372/4923/CuracaoPapers.pdf|title=Curaçao Papers page 234}}</ref>

Salads may be sold in [[supermarket]]s, at [[restaurant]]s and at [[fast food]] chains. In the United States, restaurants may have a [[salad bar]] with salad-making ingredients, which the customers will use to put together their salad.<ref>"Birth of the salad bar; Local restaurant owners may have invented the common buffet," The ''State Journal-Register'' (Springfield, IL), 28 December 2001, Magazine section (p. 10A)</ref> Salad restaurants were earning more than $300 million in 2014.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Lam|first1=Bourree|title=America's $300 Million Salad Industry|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/07/america-millions-salad-industry/397574/|access-date=3 July 2015|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=3 July 2015}}</ref> At-home salad consumption in the 2010s was rising but moving away from fresh-chopped lettuce and toward bagged greens and salad kits, with bag sales expected to reach $7 billion per year.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/07/12/485098252/as-bagged-salad-kits-boom-americans-eat-more-greens|title=As Bagged Salad Kits Boom, Americans Eat More Greens|newspaper=NPR.org}}</ref>

== Types ==
{{Main|List of salads}}
[[File:A large mixed salad.jpg|alt=A large mixed salad|thumb|upright|A large mixed salad]]
[[File:Tabouleh 1.JPG|thumb|right|A Middle Eastern salad called [[Taboulleh]]]]
A salad can be a '''composed salad''' (with the ingredients specifically arranged on the serving dish) or a '''tossed salad''' (with the ingredients placed in a bowl and mixed, often with salad dressing). An [[antipasto]] plate, the first dish of a formal [[Italian cuisine|Italian meal]], is similar to a composed salad, and has vegetables, cheese, and meat.{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

=== Green salad ===
A '''green salad''', or '''green leaf salad''', another name for garden salad, is most often composed of [[leafy vegetable]]s such as [[lettuce]] varieties, [[spinach]], or [[Eruca sativa|rocket (arugula)]]. If non-greens make up a large portion of the salad it may instead be called a '''vegetable salad'''. Common raw vegetables (in the [[culinary vegetable|culinary sense]]) used in a salad include [[cucumber]]s, [[Bell pepper|peppers]], [[tomato]]es, [[onion]]s, [[carrot]]s, [[celery]], [[radish]]es, [[Edible mushroom|mushrooms]], [[avocado]], [[olive (fruit)|olives]], [[artichoke]] hearts, [[heart of palm]], [[watercress]], [[parsley]], [[fennel]], [[garden beet]]s, and [[green bean]]s. Nuts, berries, seeds, lentils, and flowers are less common components. [[Boiled egg|Hard-boiled eggs]], [[bacon]], [[Shrimp and prawn as food|shrimp]], and [[cheese]]s may be used as garnishes, but large amounts of animal-based foods would be more likely in a [[#Dinner salads|dinner salad]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

====Wedge salad====
A '''wedge salad'''{{anchor|wedge salad}} is a green salad made from a head of lettuce (often [[iceberg lettuce|iceberg]]), halved or quartered, with other ingredients on top.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/wedge-salad-recipe.html | title=Wedge Salad | work=Food Network | access-date=25 January 2016 | author=Paula Deen | archive-date=24 January 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160124150155/http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/wedge-salad-recipe.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

=== Bound salads ===
Bound salads are assembled with thick sauces such as [[mayonnaise]]. One portion of a bound salad will hold its shape when placed on a plate with a scoop. Examples of bound salad include [[tuna salad]], [[chicken salad]], [[egg salad]], [[coleslaw]], and [[potato salad]]. Some bound salads are used as [[sandwich]] fillings. Some [[pasta salad]]s, e.g. [[macaroni salad]], are bound salads. They are popular at [[picnics]], [[potlucks]] and [[barbecues]].{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

=== Dinner salads ===
[[Main course]] salads (known as '''dinner salads'''<ref name="Things to Do">Melissa Barlow, Stephanie Ashcraft. ''Things to Do with a Salad: One Hundred One Things to Do With a Salad''. Gibbs Smith, 2006. {{ISBN|1-4236-0013-4}}. 128 pages, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ft04BDXZqhEC&pg=PA8&dq=dessert+salads+cookie+salad+pistachio+salad#PPA7,M1 page 7].</ref> or as '''entrée salads''' in the [[United States]]) may contain small pieces of poultry, seafood, or [[steak]]. [[Caesar salad]], [[chef salad]], [[Cobb salad]], [[Chinese chicken salad]], [[Michigan salad]], and [[Pittsburgh salad]] are dinner salads.

A wide variety of cheeses are used in dinner salads, including [[Roquefort]] blue cheese (traditional for a Cobb salad), and [[List of Swiss cheeses|Swiss]], Cheddar, Jack, and Provolone (for chef and Cobb salads).{{Citation needed|date=January 2022}}

=== Fruit salads ===
{{main|Fruit salad}}
Fruit salads are made of fruit (in the [[culinary fruit|culinary sense]]), which may be fresh or canned. Examples include [[fruit cocktail]].<ref name="Things to Do" />

=== Dessert salads ===
Dessert salads rarely include leafy greens and are often sweet. Common variants are made with [[gelatin]] or [[whipped cream]]; e.g. [[jello salad]], [[pistachio salad]], and [[Ambrosia (fruit salad)|ambrosia]]. Other forms of dessert salads include regional dishes such as Midwestern America's ambrosia-like [[glorified rice]] and [[cookie salad]], which contains crumbled cookies as an ingredient.<ref name="Things to Do" />

<gallery mode=packed heights=160>
File:Rocket lettuce, Butternut squash, Beetroot, Green beans, whipped cream salad.jpg|A tossed green salad
File:Simple salade nicoise.jpg|A simple salad of anchovies and tomato wedges
File:Potato salad with egg and mayonnaise.jpg|American-style [[potato salad]] with egg and mayonnaise
File:Treska s majonezou.jpg| A traditional [[Slovak cuisine|Slovak]] fish salad of [[Cod as food|cod]] in [[mayonnaise]], ''treska s majonézou''
File:Ensalada de fruta casera.jpg|[[Fruit salad]]
File:Ambrosia salad.jpg|[[Ambrosia (fruit salad)|Ambrosia]], a [[dessert]] salad
</gallery>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Food}}
* [[Antipasto]]
* [[Salad spinner]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Citation |publisher = Jacksonville Printing Co. |location = Jacksonville, Fla |title = Florida Salads: a collection of dainty, wholesome salad recipes that will appeal to the most fastidious |author = Frances Barber Harris |date = 1918 |oclc = 509840 |ol = 6612631M }}

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[[Category:Salads| ]]
[[Category:Garde manger]]