From the Garden of Historic Longstreet Farm: Lettuce

From the main ingredient of your average salad to a compliments of other dishes such as sandwiches, today we use lettuce in many different ways. But did you know that lettuce can be traced back to approximately 2700 B.C. through Egyptian wall murals portraying lettuce cultivation. At the time, Egyptians utilized oils of wild lettuce seeds for medicine, cooking and mummification. Originally a bitter vegetable, the Egyptians later bred their lettuce to be more palatable, the plants being tall with separate leaves.

Greeks learned of lettuce through the Egyptians and served salads at the beginning of their meals in order to aid digestion. They too continued to cultivate their varieties for more flavorful leaves and passed their knowledge onto the Romans who named the plant "lactuca," which meant "milk" for the plant's white sap. The Romans brought lettuce into western Europe as well as to China where the plants developed thicker stems and smaller leaves which is sometimes called asparagus lettuce.

It was in the 1400s that loose-heading lettuces like butterhead were developed in Europe. It is thought that Christopher Columbus may have brought lettuce seeds to the New World or that later settlers brought cultivars. Over the next 200 years, lettuce spread through both North and South America.

A wide variety of lettuce cultivars developed around the world over the years, from the stem lettuces of Rome's papal gardens (romaine) to "brown Dutch" from Holland, which was one of Thomas Jefferson's favorites. Silesia lettuce, which was developed in France and known for its crinkled leaf edges, was a favorite in the United States during the 1800s.

At Historic Longstreet Farm, Paris white and oak leaf lettuces are planted in early spring and are almost ready to be harvested. Both originally cultivated in Europe and brought to the United States, Paris white is a romaine variety with tall leaves and white ribs and oak leaf is a butter lettuce with leaves shaped like those of an oak tree.

Check out these traditional recipes and techniques for lettuce from cookbooks published in the late 19th century:

Lettuce Salad.
(No. 4) After the lettuce has been carefully picked, washed and drained, pour the following sauce over it, and mix up well with two silver forks. Rub the yolks of two hard-boiled eggs to a paste, adding a teaspoonful of best salad oil or melted butter, being careful to add only a few drops at a time. Add half a teaspoonful of salt, half a teaspoonful or prepared mustard, very little pepper, two tablespoonfuls of white sugar. Stir very vigorously, then pour in gradually half a teacup full of vinegar. If there is more sauce than required, put in the refrigerator; it will keep two or three days.
From “Aunt Babette’s Cook Book” by Aunt Babette. The Bloch Publishing and Printing Co., Cincinnati and Chicago, 1889.
Mixed Summer Salad.
Three heads of lettuce, two teaspoonfuls of green mustard leaves; a handful of water-cresses; five tender radishes; one cucumber; three hard-boiled eggs; two teaspoonfuls of white sugar; one teaspoonful of salt; one teaspoonful of pepper; one teaspoonful of made mustard; one teacupful of vinegar; half a teacupful of oil.
Mix all well together, and serve with a lump of ice in the middle.
From “White House Cook Book: A Selection of Choice Recipes Original and Selected, during a period of forty years” by Mrs. F.L. Gillette. R. S.. Peale & Company, Chicago, 1887.
Lettuce.
Wash well, put into cold water, and set on ice or on the cellar bottom for an hour or more before using. Dry the leaves with a soft towel and use whole or tear into convenient pieces with a silver fork; never cut with a knife. Serve with a dressing prepared of equal quantities of lemon juice and sugar, diluted with a little ice water; or, with a dressing of cream and sugar, in the proportion of three or four tablespoonfuls of thin cream to a teaspoonful of sugar. The dressing may be prepared, and after the sugar is dissolved, a very little lemon juice (just enough to thicken the cream slightly, but not sufficient to curdle it) may be added if desired.
From “Science in the Kitchen” by Mrs. E.E. Kellogg, A.M. Modern Medicine Publishing Co., Chicago, 1893.

Please Note: Historic Longstreet Farm is closed at this time. However, our interpretive staff continues to work daily to keep up with the daily farm chores and maintain this beautiful historic site.

Sources:

• The History of Lettuce, Mother Earth Gardener. https://www.motherearthgardener.com/plant-profiles/edible/the-history-of-lettuce-zm0z18szphe.
• Harvesting History: Seeding the Future. https://harvesting-history.com/.