LettucePosted 10 years ago under Uncategorized
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Lettuce is believed to be indigenous to the Mediterranean and Asia. When the flesh is broken a somewhat creamy white liquid is typically shown inside the flesh, this is how lettuce gets its’ scientific name Lactuca sativa, as lactuca comes from the Latin word for milk. Ancient Egyptians cultivated lettuce, as did the Greeks and the Romans.
True varieties of lettuce can be classified into five broad categories. Although watercress and arugula are from a culinary perspective lettuce, and make a fine salad ingredient they are not closely related to lettuce in the botanical sense.
Crisphead Lettuce
The best known variety of crisphead lettuce is iceberg lettuce. It is a bland, crispy lettuce that is also very low in nutrition. Iceberg lettuce is ball shaped (like a cabbage) with dark green outer leaves and tightly packed white or translucent leaves. Streaks of green and red also color the lettuce leaves.
Other vareties of crisphead lettuce include
Ballade, Crispino, Great Lakes, Ithaca, Imperial, Legacy, Mission, Salinas, Summertime, Sun Devil, and Vanguard.
Celtuce is a cross between lettuce and celery.
Summer Crisp, French Crisp, also called Batavian Lettuce
Different types of lettuce for this variety are: Jack Ice, Oscarde, Reine Des glaces, Anuenue, Loma, Magenta, Nevada and Roger.
Butterhead, Boston or Bibb
Blushed Butter Oak, Buttercrunch, Carmona, Divina, Emerald Oak, Flashy Butter Oak, Kweik, Pirat, Sanguine Ameliore, Summer Bib, Tom Thumb, Victoria, and Yugoslavian red
Romaine or Cos
‘Romaine’ is as you might guess derived from the word Roman, whereas Cos comes from the name of the Greek island of Kos.
Some of the many varieties of this lettuce are Brown Golding, Chaos Mix II black, Chaos Mix II white, Devil’s Tongue, Dark Green Romaine, De Morges Braun, Hyper Red Rumple, Little Leprechaun, Mixed Chaos black, Mixed Chaos white, Nova F3, Nova F4 black, Nova F4 white, Paris Island Cos, Valmaine, and Winter Density.
Looseleaf Lettuce
Austrian Greenleaf, Bijou, Black Seeded Simpson, Bronze Leaf, Brunia, Cracoviensis, Fine Frilled, Gold Rush, Green Ice, New Red Fire, Oakleaf, Perilla Green, Perilla Red, Merlot, Merveille De Mai,Red Sails, Ruby, Salad Bowl, and Simpson Elite.
Butterhead, also known as Boston Lettuce or Bibb Lettuce
Sources:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=61
http://www.harvesttotable.com/2007/04/five_types_of_lettuce_there