Lambs Lettuce Verte à Coeur Plein organic seeds - Corn Salad

The Full-Hearted Green Lamb's lettuce is a hardy variety of Corn Salad appreciated by gardeners and food lovers. Its tender, thick, dark green, slightly rounded leaves form dense and generous rosettes to harvest in autumn and winter. They are enjoyed in salads, accompanied by walnuts, red beets, and other ingredients. Sow it from August to October for a harvest from autumn to late winter.

Lamb's lettuce, in Latin Valeriana locusta, is a small salad crop with rounded leaves grouped in rosettes. Traditionally associated with autumn and winter harvests, some varieties known as "all-season" allow for sowing and harvesting throughout the year. Varieties with large seeds produce larger leaves, but they are less cold-resistant than those with small seeds.

This plant belongs to the Caprifoliaceae family, like honeysuckle, and naturally grows wild throughout Europe, where it is sometimes considered a "weed." It is native to Southern Europe, certain regions of Asia, and North Africa. 

The 'Full-Hearted Green Lamb's lettuce' is an old French variety, also known as 'Small Head Green Corn Salad', 'Green from Chevreuse Corn Salad', or 'd’Anizy' Corn Salad. This variety is distinguished by its short, rounded, and smooth leaves, forming a compact rosette with a well-filled heart.

Lamb's lettuce is mainly consumed raw, whether alone or in combination with ingredients like kiwi, avocado, or beetroot. It can be paired with olive oil, walnut oil, or simple rapeseed oil. It can also be cooked, like spinach. Its nutritional value is remarkable: very low in calories, it is rich in vitamin C (three times more than lettuce), vitamin E, and beta-carotene.

Cultivating lamb's lettuce is relatively simple. Sow on well-packed soil kept moist to ensure good germination. Harvest as needed, by cutting the rosettes just above the collar with a knife. After harvesting, it can be stored for a few days in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.

For a self-sufficient vegetable garden, it is advisable, in spring, to let some rosettes go to seed. They will self-sow, ensuring a new production effortlessly and providing some additional greenery on the plate.

In the vegetable garden, lamb's lettuce pairs well with many vegetables, especially carrots, beetroot, and radishes, which free up space for it after their harvest. It also appreciates the shade of cabbages or tall plants like climbing beans, while harmoniously coexisting with lettuces or strawberries, where it covers the ground in winter. Grown at the edge of beds or paths, it maximises the available space while benefiting from rich and undisturbed soil. These associations optimise the productivity of the vegetable garden while maintaining good soil structure and fertility.