I am not a huge fan of lettuce and much prefer the leafy type over Iceberg lettuce.

Since our featured product this week is our Wild Lettuce collection we thought it fitting to highlight lettuce as our ingredient of the week.

Make sure you come back tomorrow as we will feature a scrumptious sounding lettuce wrap recipe!

Below are snippets borrowed from Lettuce-Wikipedia:

Ingredient Of The Week: Lettuce

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa) is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. In many countries, it is typically eaten cold, raw, in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and in many other dishes. In some places, including China, lettuce is typically eaten cooked and use of the stem is as important as use of the leaf. Both the English name and the Latin name of the genus are ultimately derived from lac, the Latin word for “milk”, referring to the plant’s milky juice. Mild in flavour, it has been described over the centuries as a cooling counterbalance to other ingredients in a salad.

The lettuce plant has a short stem initially (a rosette growth habit), but when it blooms, the stem lengthens, branches, and produces many flower heads that look like those of dandelions, but smaller. This is referred to as bolting. When grown to eat, lettuce is harvested before it bolts.

Cultivation
Lettuce is grown commercially worldwide, hardy to Zone 6, requiring light, sandy, humus rich, moist soil. It dislikes dry conditions, which can cause the plants to go to seed (known as bolting). It is normally grown by early and late sowing in sunny positions, or summer crops in shade. It is considered fairly easy to grow and a suitable crop for beginners.

Planting Depth: Some resources suggest planting seeds by covering lightly with soil while others suggest a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch.

Planting Spacing: Thin seedlings to 10 cm (4 in) apart for leaf lettuce [1 sq. m (9/sq ft)] and 6 to 8 inches (200 mm) apart for Cos or Butterhead (4/sq ft – 1/sq ft), transplant Crisphead seedlings 10 to 12 inches (300 mm) apart in the row (1/sq ft).
Row Spacing: 12 – 18 inches apart

History
The earliest depiction of lettuce is in the carvings at the temple of Senusret I at Karnak, where he offers milk to the god Min, to whom the lettuces was sacred. Lettuce was considered an aphrodisiac food in Ancient Egypt, and appears as such in The Contendings of Horus and Seth. Later, Ancient Greek physicians believed lettuce could act as a sleep-inducing agent. The Romans cultivated it, and it eventually made its way to France cultivated of the Papal Court at Avignon. Christopher Columbus introduced lettuce to the New World

Cultivars
There are six commonly recognised Cultivar Groups of lettuce which are ordered here by head formation and leaf structure; there are hundreds of cultivars of lettuce selected for leaf shape and colour, as well as extended field and shelf life, within each of these Cultivar Groups:

Butterhead forms loose heads. Its leaves have a buttery texture. Butterhead cultivars are most popular in Europe. Popular varieties include Boston, Bibb, Buttercrunch, and Tom Thumb.

Chinese lettuce types generally have long, sword-shaped, non-head-forming leaves, with a bitter and robust flavour unlike Western types, for use in stir-fried dishes and stews.

Crisphead, also called Iceberg, forms tight, dense heads that resemble cabbage. They are generally the mildest of the lettuces, valued more for their crunchy texture than for flavour. Cultivars of iceberg lettuce are the most familiar lettuces in the USA. The name Iceberg refers to the crisp, cold, clean characteristics of the leaves.

Looseleaf has tender, delicate, and mildly flavoured leaves. This group includes oak leaf and lollo rosso lettuces.

Romaine, also called Cos, grows in a long head of sturdy leaves with a firm rib down the center. Unlike most lettuces, it is tolerant of heat.

Summer Crisp, also called Batavian, forms moderately dense heads with a crunchy texture. This type is intermediate between iceberg and looseleaf types.

Some lettuces (especially iceberg) have been specifically bred to remove the bitterness from their leaves. These lettuces have a high water content with very little nutrient value. The more bitter lettuces and the ones with pigmented leaves contain antioxidants

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco-Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com