corn salad

Any of several plants of the genus Valerianella, especially a Eurasian annual (V. locusta or V. olitoria), having small, white to pale bluish flowers and edible young leaves used in salads or as a potherb. Also called lamb's lettuce, mache.

Winter salad vegetable, Valeriana olitoria, also known as lamb's lettuce.

Native to Europe, corn salad has nothing to do with corn . . . But it is used in salads. The narrow, dark green leaves of this plant are tender and have a tangy, nutlike flavor. In addition to being used as a salad green, corn salad can also be steamed and served as a vegetable. Though it's often found growing wild in American cornfields, it's considered a "gourmet" green and is therefore expensive and hard to find. It doesn't keep well and should be used within a day or two of purchase. Corn salad should be washed and drained completely of any excess moisture before being stored airtight in a plastic bag. It's also called field salad, field lettuce, lamb's lettuce and mâche.

[Etymology: E. Mache; Germany 1876-1954] radiation physics Of radioactive emanation, that which sets up a saturation electric current of 10^-3 statampere, = 3.6 × 10^-10 curie = 1.368~ Bq.

Corn Salad Corn Salad close up Scientific classification Kingdom: Plantae (unranked): Angiosperms (unranked): Eudicots (unranked): Asterids Order: Dipsacales Family: Valerianaceae Genus: Valerianella Species: V. locusta Binomial name Valerianella locusta L.

Valerianella locusta line drawing showing its bolted state.

Corn salad (Valerianella locusta) is a small dicot annual plant of the family Valerianaceae. It is also called Lewiston cornsalad, lamb's lettuce, field salad, mâche, and rapunzel.

Corn salad grows in a low rosette with spatulate leaves up to 15.2 cm long.^[1] It is a hardy plant that grows to zone 5, and in mild climates it is grown as a winter green. In warm conditions it tends to bolt to seed.^[2]

Corn salad grows wild in parts of Europe, northern Africa and western Asia.^[3] In Europe and Asia it is a common weed in cultivated land and waste spaces. In North America it has escaped cultivation and become naturalized on both the eastern and western seaboards.^[4]

Contents 1 History 2 Nutrition 3 References 4 Sources

History

Corn salad was originally foraged by European peasants until the royal gardener of King Louis XIV, de la Quintinie, introduced it to the world. ^[5]

Nutrition

Like other formerly foraged greens, corn salad has many nutrients, including three times as much Vitamin C as lettuce, beta-carotene, B6, B9, Vitamin E, and omega-3 fatty acids. It is best if gathered before flowers appear.

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References

1. ^ Floridata: Valerianella locusta
2. ^ Plants for a Future: Valerianella locusta
3. ^ United States Department of Agriculture: Germplasm Resources Information Network
4. ^ United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service: Plants profile for Valerianella locusta
5. ^ Organic Gardening Magazine, August-September 2007

Sources

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 edition of The Grocer's Encyclopedia.

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