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corn salad

 
Dictionary: corn salad

n.
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.


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Food and Nutrition: corn salad
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Winter salad vegetable, Valeriana olitoria, also known as lamb's lettuce.

Food Lover's Companion: corn salad
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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.

Wikipedia: Corn salad
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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

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.

References

Sources

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


 
 

 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food and Nutrition. A Dictionary of Food and Nutrition. Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2005 by A. E. Bender and D. A. Bender. All rights reserved.  Read more
Food Lover's Companion. Food Lover's Companion. Copyright © 2001 by Barron's Educational Series, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Measures and Units. A Dictionary of Weights, Measures, and Units. Copyright © Donald Fenna 2002, 2004. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Corn salad" Read more