baby heads of lettuce Archives

All About Lettuce!

Whenever I think about Blue Moon’s baby lettuce heads I think about Alex Levine, Whole Earth Center’s beloved deli manager. Last year when I delivered the seasons’ first baby lettuce harvest, Alex pulled a glistening head from the box, tore off a leaf, and began feasting—right there in the walk-in cooler. It was the first, fresh greenery he’d had since the previous autumn, and judging by the ecstatic look of satiety that filled his eyes, it was much needed. Like Alex, I’ll often eat lettuce straight from the head—greedily, luxuriating in the texture, the taste, the privilege of eating local lettuce so early in the season. And after a winter like this year’s, it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Lettuce is so ubiquitous we rarely stop to think about its origins. It was the Egyptians who first cultivated the plant, turning it from an oil-producing weed into a crop grown exclusively for its leaves. They used lettuce to honor their reproduction god, Min, whose stamina was purportedly benefited by copious consumption of the crop. These early lettuce strains resembled a large version of romaine, and later spread to the Greeks, and then the Romans, and finally to Europe. It was the barbaric Christopher Columbus who brought lettuce, along with pestilence and disease, to the Americas.

Originally, lettuce had to be sold close to where it was grown, thanks in part to its short life span and delicate nature. But with the advent of new packing, storage and shipping technologies in the early 1900s, lettuce began to proliferate. The later development of ‘vacuum cooling’, which allowed for the crop to be cooled and packed in the field, only added to its popularity.

At Blue Moon, we grow five varieties of baby lettuce heads. Red “Little Gem”, Green “Sucrine”, Green “Oakleaf,” Green “Sweet Crisp”, and red “Incised”. The first harvest of these beauties is always a special occasion—they are the very first crop of the season, and, as such, mark the arrival of spring. And whether you choose to enjoy them in a salad, on a wrap or sandwich, or, like Alex and I, straight from the head, they’re delicious.

By admin|March 27th, 2015|News|Comments Off

A Salad by Any Other Name…

Why is a salad called a salad? These are the questions we (ok, I) ask ourselves as we chomp into the first bites of locally-grown lettuces this season…

“Salad” comes from “sal”, ie, salt. In ancient times (and modern, as well), salt was an ingredient in the salad dressing. As they say, clothes make the man, so it goes for salad.

From An A-Z of Food and Drink by John Ayto:

Etymologically, the key ingredient of salad, and the reason for its getting its name, is the dressing. The Romans were enthusiastic eaters of salads, many of their differing hardly at all from present-day ones–a simple selection of raw vegetables…–and they always used a dressing of some sort: oil, vinegar, and often brine. And hence the name salad, which comes from Vulgar Latin Herba salata, literally ‘salted herb’.

So our ancient ancestors enjoyed salad much the same way we do today (less the brine). And then somewhere, in the turn of the century, things went horribly awry…

From Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century by Laura Shapiro:

Salad greens, which did have to be served raw and crisp, demanded more complicated measures. The object of scientific salad making was to subdue the raw greens until they bore as little resemblance as possible to their natural state. If a plain green salad was called for, the experts tried to avoid simply letting a disorganized pile of leaves drop messily onto the plate…This arduous approach to salad making became an identifying feature of cooking-school cookery and the signature of a refined household…American salads traditionally had been a matter of fresh greens, chicken, or lobster, but during the decades at the turn of the century, when urban and suburban middle class was beginning to define itself, salads proliferated magnificently in number and variety until they incorporated nearly every kind of food except bread and pastry…Salads that were nothing but a heap of raw ingredients in dissaray plainly lacked cultivation, and the cooking experts developed a number of ingenious ways to wrap them up…The tidiest and most thorough way to package a salad was to mold in in gelatin.

Gelatin salads have not, thankfully, been in vogue for some years, though I did see a recipe for one on Pinterest last week. Most home cooks and restaurant chefs prefer a simple dressing to salad, some combination of oils, acids (vinegars), and other flavors (mustard, herbs, etc). The salad greens we grow here at the farm have enough inherent flavor to be eaten un-dressed… but would it still be considered a salad, then?

A very Blue Moon salad, topped with Edible Flowers (lightly dressed)

By admin|April 18th, 2014|News|Comments Off

Growing Lettuce in the Winter?!

Shh—do you hear that sound? That’s the sound of your favorite vegetables growing.

In the winter.

That’s right, Blue Moon Acres is still at it, even in January.

In concert with our Pennington Market’s new winter hours, we’re offering an array of in-season, local, New Jersey Grown veggies. Cabbage, leeks, scallions, beets, kale, collards, spinach, arugula, and baby heads of lettuce are either currently available, or soon to be.

These veggies are grown in high tunnels, which are essentially unheated greenhouses. High tunnels can add in excess of 20 degrees to the surrounding temperature, especially during sunny days. The plants are grown on raised beds, and during cold spells—like the recent ‘Polar Vortex’—are covered with reemay cloth, helping prevent frost. Special, heartier seeds also play an important role.

Obviously, farming in the winter is not without downsides. Shorter days and colder weather make for slower growth rates. There are, however, some benefits. Subfreezing temperatures can have a sweetening effect on the vegetables, for instance. This happens because plants move glucose and fructose in order to hedge against frost damage. A cell with dissolved sugar is much less susceptible to freezing.

Another advantage is the absence of pests and insects, the majority of which are dormant. The threat of disease is also greatly reduced, as the water content within the high-tunnel remains more or less constant.

All in all, wintertime farming is a challenging prospect, but one whose results are well worth the effort.

But don’t take my word for it; stop by our Pennington Market today and see for yourself!

By admin|January 31st, 2014|News|Comments Off