Salads, Good and Bad

While I was unable to find any tales of Min, I did find the following stories. In each of them, the lettuce is not the hero but the tool which enables the hero to gain what he desires. A magical plant indeed! First is Grimm’s tale The Salad. Here is the written version for your reading pleasure, or you may enjoy… Continue Reading…

You’re Getting Sleepy

The lettuce that our Leech wants in her leech’s bag is Lactuca virosa, the wild lettuce. Lactuca sativa has had most of the active principles bred out of it although Aelfrida would not have hesitated to use the sativa in a pinch, especially for lesser complaints. It has been commonly used as a sedative and a sleep inducer. The plant gives… Continue Reading…

More Than A Salad To Me

Lettuce was very popular in Ancient Rome. It is said that it was often served twice in a meal although I was unable to find a lettuce dessert from any time period. Have you got anything for me there? Post it in the comments below so I can give it a try. Other than dessert though, there are plenty of good… Continue Reading…

A Delicate Spring Green

The wild ancestors of lettuce were originally found in Asia Minor. We don’t know exactly when it was domesticated but the first recorded cultivation of it was in Egypt around 2500 BCE. It traveled to Rome around 50 CE. It was brought to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. There are three main types of lettuce: leaf, cos,… Continue Reading…

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)

When my grandfather and I sat down with the seed catalogues in the winter to plan our spring garden we always gave a good look at the lettuce varieties that we wanted to plant. Lettuce is easy to grow only if you give it what it demands and some varieties are more demanding than others.We always had to balance what the… Continue Reading…

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