Meet the Crunchy Lettuce family
Uniting the best of Iceberg and Cos
Iceberg and Cos are popular lettuce types, enjoying high consumption levels globally. However, the ever-innovative demands of food retailers and processing companies inspired our breeding team to blend the best traits of both into a single lettuce, introducing consumers to a brand new product: Crunchy Lettuce. Rijk Zwaan provides comprehensive support and guidance to growers and customers in production, processing, and marketing.
Discover the benefits of Crunchy Lettuce
Serving possibilities beyond the ordinary
Explore endless serving possibilities; the leaves stay crisp even when combined with warm ingredients, making them perfect as edible spoons for tapas, as a burger garnish, or as a wrap. Of course, Crunchy Lettuce serves as the perfect ingredient for Caesar salads.
Suitable for hydroponics and mechanical harvest
With Crunchy Lettuce, growers can set themselves apart from other lettuce varieties. The oval shape is well-suited for mechanical harvesting of whole heads or single leaves. Additionally, Crunchy Lettuce serves as the ideal Iceberg alternative for hydroponics.
Cost Savings in Fresh Cut Produce Processing
The varieties can be mechanically harvested and transported to the factory as single leaves or whole heads, leading to significant cost savings in terms of manual labour.
Snack Lettuce
The crunchiest base for your snacks
These Mini Crunchy Lettuce varieties have some unique characteristics such as a distinctive spoon shape, fresh crunchy leaves and an excellent flavour, which is ideal for all types of fillings. These conveniently sized baby crunchies can be marketed under the Snack and Wrap label and are an ideal solution for retail and food service. This snack-sized edible spoon lettuce adds excitement to retail shelves inspiring consumers to enjoy lettuce in other tasty ways and moments, such as tapas and breadless wraps.
Maxi Crunchy Lettuce
Elevating size, nutrition, and sustainability in the lettuce landscape
Crunchy Lettuce is available in larger sizes, positioned either as a premium and more nutritious alternative to iceberg or as a crunchier Romaine Lettuce. Either way, it enhances the entire lettuce category with its attractive, fresh green appearance. Its extended shelf life eliminates the need for plastic and offers countless serving possibilities for food service. With its robust texture, Crunchy Lettuce stays firm on a juicy burger and remains crisp in a fresh salad!
Crunchita™ lettuce is one of our iconic Woolworths products
Thrilled... that was how Mari de la Buscagne, Produce Technologist Leafy Crops at Woolworths South Africa, felt when she was first introduced to the Rijk Zwaan Crunchy Lettuce varieties in 2013. “This remarkable natural cross between a cos and a crisp lettuce is bright green, has a unique visual appearance and an appealing taste,” she says.
Snack Lettuce: a revolutionary concept
Snack Lettuce is an ideal solution for retail and food service. This snack-sized lettuce is adding excitement to retail shelves and inspires consumers to enjoy lettuce in other tasty ways and moments. We spoke about this revolutionary lettuce concept with Miguel Ángel Jiménez Bosque, CEO at our proud partner JimboFresh.
News about Crunchy lettuce
Empowering South Korea’s next generation in high-tech horticulture
The Young Entrepreneurs Amplifying Horticulture (YEAH) programme officially launches today, introducing a fresh initiative aimed at inspiring Korean students and young professionals to explore career opportunities in one of the world’s most innovative green sectors: horticulture.
Rijk Zwaan achieves stable growth
Rijk Zwaan grew its revenue by 7.5% in the 2025/2026 financial year, taking the net annual total to €735 million. The growth occurred across virtually all of the fruit and vegetable breeding company’s active regions and crops.
New e-learning organic vegetable production in Africa
Organic production is gaining ground worldwide - not only as a market trend but as a conscious choice for healthier crops, resilient soils and sustainable food systems. Through our Organic Production Course, African growers can access practical knowledge on key topics such as soil health and composting, pest and disease management and healthy seedling production.