March's Tag Game ~ La Lechuga ~ Lettuce Community Forums - p1

Thu Feb 23, 2012 4:00 pm

Forum Host

Lechuga / Lettuce

~ Lechuga, or lettuce in English, is a fresh ingredient that figures prominently in Spanish cuisine, particularly because it can easily be grown almost year-round in many regions throughout Spain. It is easy to grow, and can be harvested rather quickly after planting, which makes lettuce a popular choice for home gardens as well as for farming on a large-scale, commercial level.

Lettuce is an annual or biennial plant in the in the Asteraceae (i.e., daisy and sunflower) family. It is grown as a leaf vegetable and is most often eaten raw (particularly in salads, sandwiches, burgers and tacos) or added to a variety of cooked dishes (most notably Chinese stir-fry dishes, in which the stem is often as important as the leaf). Both the English and Latin name for lettuce are derived from lac, the Latin word for ‘milk’, referring to the plant’s milky juice.

~ Lettuce varieties seen in most markets and home gardens today actually started out as a weed around the Mediterranean basin several centuries ago. Served in dishes for more than 4500 years now, lettuce has certainly made its mark in history with tomb paintings found in Egypt and identification of different types of lettuces by various Greek scholars. The Romans then followed suit and began growing many varieties of lettuce. It became quite popular throughout Europe and Asia in a short period of time. It was Christopher Columbus who first introduced lettuce to the new world in about the year 1494. It has since been widely cultivated in the United States over the next several centuries, with new varieties introduced in various eras after successful cross-cultivation attempts. For instance, an agricultural report from 1885 listed more than 87 varieties of lettuce, and today there are well over hundreds of known varieties of each lettuce cultivar grown year-round in most parts of the world now.

In fact, China takes the lead in lettuce production with the U.S. coming in second and Spain taking the third place spot for lettuce production, producing more than a million tons per year.

Health Benefits

~ Lettuce is known to be low-calorie with a very high water content and high nutritional value, which often makes it a favored food product for many health and diet conscious individuals. For instance, most lettuce varieties are high in vitamin A, vitamin K, folate, vitamin C, manganese and chromium. Romaine lettuce in particular is a great source of dietary fiber and more than 6 vitamins and minerals.

Lettuce, in addition to its nutritional value, also is known to aid digestion and promote liver health. It can also reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke and cataracts. Additional research has shown evidence that lettuce helps to reduce the risk of some types of cancer and may ease nervous insomnia. Although most lettuce varieties offer great nutritional value, iceberg lettuce is the least nutritious member of this family of nutritional champions. Any other leafy green vegetable would be a better nutritional choice. As a general rule, the darker green the leaves, the more nutritious the salad green. To compare, both romaine and watercress have seven to eight times as much beta-carotene, as much as two to four times the calcium, and twice as much potassium as iceberg lettuce.

~ Varying your salad greens will allow you to enhance the nutritional content as well as to vary the tastes, textures, and flavor boosts. But for maximum benefit, try to avoid ripping the lettuce leaves. According to scientists at UK’s Norwich Institute of Food Research, tearing or chopping green leafy vegetables releases the ripening enzymes that sap the nutrients which in turn strips away about 94% of their beneficial cancer-fighting flavonoids.

Lettuce Facts

Lettuce (all types) is the second most popular vegetable....can you guess what outranks lettuce as the most popular vegetable?

Ancient Greeks believed lettuce induced sleep, which is why it was traditionally served at the end of the meal (and is still served as a last course in many world cuisines).

Did you know that Thomas Jefferson grew more than 19 varieties of lettuce in his home garden at Monticello?

Iceberg lettuce got is name from the fact that, in the 1920s, California growers shipped their product completely covered with crushed ice (to preserve its freshness). Previously, it was called Crisphead Lettuce, and still is many areas.

Lettuce is the one vegetable that is pretty much immune to most preservation methods -- it doesn't lend itself well to most freezing, canning, drying or pickling methods.

The expression 'rabbit food' (referring to lettuce) was first recorded in the 1930s, though it should be noted that many rabbit breeds cannot eat some types of lettuce (especially iceberg lettuce) as it causes severe pain and digestive upset in those rabbit breeds.

Lettuce Varieties

Lettuce, as mentioned above, come in a variety of types, shapes and colors that offer an array of differing flavors from mild to bitter and earthy to buttery. There are six main recognized classifications of lettuce varieties, called a cultivar group, which are selected for leaf shape and color as well as their extended field and shelf life. However, within those cultivar groups you will find more than a hundred different types of that particular kind of lettuce. Among the most common types of lettuce are:

- Butterhead Lettuce forms loose heads in which its leaves have a buttery texture. Butterhead cultivars are most popular in Europe. Popular varieties of Butterhead lettuce include Boston, Bibb, Buttercrunch, and Tom Thumb.

- Chinese Lettuce types generally have long, sword-shaped, non-head-forming leaves, grown in night soil with a bitter and robust flavor unlike Western types, for use in stir-fry dishes and stews. Chinese lettuce varieties are divided into “stem-use” types (called celtuce in English), and “leaf-use” types such as youmaicai or shengcai, respectively.

- Crisphead Lettuce or Iceberg Lettuce (and sometimes called cabbage lettuce) forms tight, dense heads that resemble cabbage. They are generally the mildest of the lettuces that offer much less nutritional value than darker lettuces and are therefore valued more for their crunchy texture than for flavor. Cultivars of iceberg lettuce are the most familiar lettuce grown and sold in the U.S.

- Looseleaf Lettuce has tender, delicate, and mildly flavored leaves. This group includes oak leaf lettuce and lollo rosso (Red Leaf) lettuces.

- Romaine Lettuce, 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. As mentioned above, Romaine boasts to be one of the most nutritious of all lettuces.

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

Other Salad Greens in the Lettuce Family

- Radicchio, sometimes known as Italian chicory, is bitter with a spicy or peppery taste when eaten alone, but small amounts can add a nice accent to a mixed lettuce salad.

- Arugula, also known as rocket, is native to the Mediterranean region and has a bold, peppery, pungent flavor that is an ideal contrast when mixed with mild or bland salad greens. When eaten fresh, arugula can have a similar flavor impact as an onion, but without the onion aftertaste.

- Curly Endive has a mildly bitter flavor that, with its twisty, feathery leaves adds visual interest to salads.

~ Broad-Leaf Endive is more commonly called Escarole which presents broad, pale green leaves and is much less bitter than other varieties of endive. It is similar in taste—though not in color—to radicchio.

………………………………Let us tag Lettuce

~ We have selected an array of Spanish (and other) recipes from the food,com database that include a wide choice of different types of lettuce. You are free to tag one of the recipes we found, or you are free to pick any other recipe in the database that includes any variety or type of lettuce. And there is no limit; you can tag as many recipes as you can make before the end of the month.

Featured Recipes ~ Lettuce

~ Ensalada De Manzanas Con Manchego by Cookgirl
Fresh Romaine lettuce is only the beginning of the wonderful taste sensation featured in this 5-Star Spanish tapas dish, which is topped off nicely with a fresh lemon wedges.

~ Green Gazpacho (Spain) by Sydney Mike
You’re going to love this new twist to a traditional chilled Spanish Gazpacho recipe, featuring loads of fresh, crisp lettuce leaves and spinach, and then topped with sour cream.

~ Spanish Tapas - Avocado Puree and Shrimp Cocktail by Deantini
This 5-Star Spanish tapas dish features fresh shrimp cocktail served with fresh homemade avocado puree nestled on a bed of fresh, crisp shredded lettuce.

Tapas (or Appetizers and Snacks)