Some Practical Tips and Interesting Facts on Harvesting Lettuce
Harvesting lettuce from your own garden is easy; in fact, it’s much easier than actually growing lettuce. So, you’ve done the hard part, now enjoy the fruits—or in this case, the lettuce—of your labors.
Tips for Harvesting Lettuce
The first tip for harvesting lettuce is to start when the morning dew is still on the ground and the sun has barely started to paint the sky. Early in the morning, lettuce is at its most robust. If you leave it out in the sun, it may wilt under the harsh glare of daylight.
To get the most from your lettuce you should clip the outer leaves and let the inner sprouts continue to grow until maturity. This will give you the most yield for each plant.
Another strategy for getting the most from each growth is to cut all the leaves at just above ground level—maybe about an inch or so above.
If you decide to pull the whole plant as you find them in the supermarket you should pull them up and clip them at ground level.
When harvesting lettuce, you will notice that each head is never as fresh as when you first pick it. If you really want to experience lettuce at its fullest, take it straight to the sink, wash it off, and throw it right into a nice morning salad. You will never have a better experience.
Some gardeners even skip the washing step claiming that the chemicals in the tap water rob the lettuce of some of its flavor, but I think this is excessive and unhygienic. In addition, if you use certain kinds of chemicals to keep pests away from your lettuce heads, this may be outright unhealthy.
Interesting Facts about Lettuce
Although most places in the world use lettuce cold in sandwiches and in salads, this is not the case everywhere. In China, they boil their lettuce and serve the entire plant, even the root.
We think of the lettuce as a bland plant, the white bread of the plant world, in a way. In ancient cultures, however, the lettuce was a lot sexier. This was literally true in Egypt, for example, where Egyptians thought of the lettuce in the manner we think of strawberries, chocolates or oysters—as an aphrodisiac.
The civilization of the Nile River Valley was not, however, the only one to have peculiar notions about the lettuce. Some Greek thinkers believed lettuce had a soporific effect and recommended it for insomnia.
Another unusual view of lettuce comes from the little known Yazidi people who live around the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. They do not allow their people to eat lettuce for rather unusual reasons. The Yazidi believe that the plant too closely resembles the human ear and that local farmers grow their lettuce with human waste as fertilizer. Because the Yazidi are a very insular Turkish tribe, they restrict their tribe members from anything that seems too foreign, and to them, lettuce fits the bill.
The lettuce plant was not only one of the oldest in the world; it also has a notable history in the Americas. In fact, it was Christopher Columbus who first brought harvesting lettuce to this continent.
There are six kinds of lettuce: Butterhead, Chinese, Iceberg, Loose-leaf, Romaine and Summer Crisp. The most common harvesting lettuce is actually Chinese lettuce. This is actually not surprising given that China is also the main producer of lettuce in the entire world.
Finally, just in case you ever wondered, the name “iceberg lettuce” comes not from the any special connection between iceberg lettuce and cold climates but from the cool, crisp taste of the iceberg lettuce.