SC - Lettuce

[Nanna Rögnvaldardóttir]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
To: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG <sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG>
Date: 3. febrúar 1999 12:47
Subject: Re: SC - Lettuce


>david friedman wrote:
>>
>> I was recently asked what kinds of lettuce are period. I don't know; does
>> anyone on the list?
>>
>> Elizabeth/Betty Cook
>
>Romaine [Cos] appears to have been a period variety. As with cabbages
>portrayed in sources like the Tacuinum Sanitatis, the long-leaf, rather
>than the head varieties seem to have been the norm.


Head varieties of both lettuce and cabbage probably weren´t developed until
late Middle Ages. According to Margaret Visser, the earliest known mention
of Lactuca capitata is in the Kräuterbuch of Leonard Fuchs in 1543.

Romaine (cos) seems to have been the only lettuce known in ancient times but
there were many varieties of this. One type was called "the eunuch" as it
had "potent check to amorous propensities" (Pliny). Others were said to have
calming effect and make people sleepy.

Nanna



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