The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 6 letter word PEPPER
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
P
E
P
P
E
R
More clues leading to the result PEPPER
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "salad item" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case salad item = pepper.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does PEPPER mean?
PEPPER noun- A plant of the family Piperaceae.
- A spice prepared from the fermented, dried, unripe berries of this plant.
- A bell pepper, a fruit of the capsicum plant: red, green, yellow or white, hollow and containing seeds, and in very spicy and mild varieties.
- A game used by baseball players to warm up where fielders standing close to a batter rapidly return the batted ball to be hit again
- A randomly-generated value that is added to another value (such as a password) prior to hashing. Unlike a salt, a new one is generated for each value and it is held separately from the value.
- To add pepper to.
- To strike with something made up of small particles.
- To cover with lots of (something made up of small things).
- To add (something) at frequent intervals.