Valerianella locusta, cornsalad or lamb's lettuce - which of the many names for it do you know - and which name do you use?

[Rumpel]

Valerianella locusta, mâche, cornsalad or lamb's lettuce - which of the many names for it do you know - and which name do you use?

This now is a culinary and a gastronomical topic - with a lingistic touch as well.

Maybe you can click on all the names you have read or heard - and then say which of these names you normally use.

 

[Goshin]

Never heard of it by any of those names.

 

[Rumpel]

Never heard of it by any of those names.

Strange.
Is neither plant nor salad known in the US?

As there are quite a few English names for it it should at least be known in the UK.

Common names include lamb's lettuce, common cornsalad, or simply cornsalad,[13]: 831 [14]: 260 [2][15] mâche[2] (/mɑːʃ/), fetticus,[2] feldsalat,[2] nut lettuce,[2] field salad and valerian salad. The common name 'cornsalad' refers to the fact that it often grows as a weed in cornfields[11] ('corn' is used in the sense of 'cereal', not the US meaning of maize).

In German-speaking Switzerland it is known as Nüsslisalat or Nüssler, terms that have been borrowed by the area's many English speakers. In some areas of Germany it is known as rapunzel, and is the origin of the long-haired maiden's name in the eponymous fairy tale, but see Campanula rapunculus.[citation needed] In restaurants that feature French cuisine, it may be called doucette or raiponce, as an alternative to mâche, by which it is best known.[16]

Valeriana locusta - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[BitterPill]

Valerianella locusta, mâche, cornsalad or lamb's lettuce - which of the many names for it do you know - and which name do you use?

This now is a culinary and a gastronomical topic - with a lingistic touch as well.

Maybe you can click on all the names you have read or heard - and then say which of these names you normally use.

I am not familiar with that plant, but when I visit Hispanic stores, I often see an herb that looks similar. Apparently, its name is verdolagas, and I will check next time I go:

10 recetas con verdolagas para toda la familia

www.cocinafacil.com.mx

 

[Rumpel]

I have clicked onto "feldsalat".
Forgot to click onto "still other names" as well.
I do know lots of other names for it.

 

[Rumpel]

I am not familiar with that plant, but when I visit Hispanic stores, I often see an herb that looks like that. Apparently, its name is verdolagas, and I will check next time I go

That would really interest me!

We had this salad today, together with a Quiche Lorraine, and my wife and I also had a talk about the many many different names that this salad has in different regions of Germany.
Hence this topic now.

 

[Daisy]

We have poke salad and field greens...never heard of any in your list...

 

[Rumpel]

I am absolutely sure that this plant or salad is also known in the English-speaking world - but maybe not to everybody.
But it can't be all that rare.

 

[Daisy]

I am absolutely sure that this plant or salad is also known in the English-speaking world - but maybe not to everybody.
But it can't be all that rare.

From your Wiki link...this could explain it...

It is native to Europe, western Asia and north Africa, where it is eaten as a leaf vegetable.

 

[Rumpel]

If I may quote some German names:

Ackersalat (in Schwaben), Mäuseöhrchensalat oder Mausohrsalat (Eifel, Hunsrück, Saarland, Luxemburg), Nüsschen (Waldecker Land, Nordhessen), Nüsslisalat (Schweiz und südbadisches Alemannisch) oder Nüssler (Schweiz), Rapunzel(salat) (Thüringen, Sachsen, Brandenburg), Rawunze (Mittelhessen) und Rawinzchen (Schlotheim, Thüringen), Schafsmäuler bzw. Schoofsmeiala (Franken), Hasenöhrchen (Unterfranken), Döchderle, Sonnenwirbel bzw. Sunnewirbeli, Sonnewirbele (Baden), Ritscherli (Ortenau), Vogelsalat (Südtirol), Vogerlsalat (Bayern, Österreich), Wingertsalat (Pfalz), Schmalzkraut (Hessisches Ried).

Feldsalat – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Maybe members with some knowledge of German can recognize some of those names.

 

[Rumpel]

Interesting fact:

American president Thomas Jefferson cultivated mâche at his home, Monticello, in Virginia in the early 1800s.

Valeriana locusta - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

So it should not be so un-known in the US either.

 

[Goshin]

Strange.
Is neither plant nor salad known in the US?

As there are quite a few English names for it it should at least be known in the UK.

Valeriana locusta - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I looked at some pics of it. Yes, I've seen it. Grows wild. Used to hoe it out from between the cornrows as a weed.

Didn't know it was edible, never heard anyone name it.

 

[Lovebug]

I vaguely remember having eaten a salad that was called nut something.

 

[Rumpel]

Here is some info about this salad:

Lambs Lettuce has emerged from the lowly historical status of a weed to become one of our best-loved salads! This is due to the fact that it crops through the winter and when planted closely, creates a dense, clump-forming stalwart which works really well with other winter salads such as Mustards. Corn Salad is a superior strain of lambs lettuce and makes a delicious salad leaf with a delicate nutty flavour and a satisfyingly wholesome bite . Picked as single leaves or whole heads, it does great in pots and in the open. At the start of spring or when space is required, Lambs Lettuce can be dug into the soil as a green manure, enriching it with nutrients for the next season.

More:

Lettuce – Corn Salad (Lamb’s Lettuce) – Propagation Place

propagationplace.co.uk

 

[Rumpel]

What are Verdolagas in English​

You can find verdolagas pretty much anywhere in the World.

If you live in the English speaking country the name you want to look for is purslane.

Verdolagas | Purslane In Salsa Verde | Mexican Made Meatless™

Verdolagas are an edible plant popular in Mexico and cooked in a delicious salsa verde. Typically it's made with pork, but this is my vegan version that I

mexicanmademeatless.com

I have now looked up purslane.
Purslane is Portulak in German.
Looks similar, but is a different plant

 

[Rumpel]

about the situation in Germany

Here both the name "Feldsalat" and the actual plant and dish is well known.
Some say "Rapunzel" - a name taken from a fairy tale.

And in my part of the Black Forest the name is "Ritscherli", a name rather unknown in the rest of Germany
Maybe some German-Americans whose ancestors came from the Black Forest remember "Ritscherli".

 

[Rumpel]

Rapunzel as a fairy tale:

A lonely couple, who long for a child, live next to a large, extensive, high-walled subsistence garden, belonging to a sorceress.[a] The wife, experiencing pregnancy cravings, longs for the rapunzel that she sees growing in the garden (rapunzel is either the salad green and root vegetable Campanula rapunculus, or the salad green Valerianella locusta).[4] She refuses to eat anything else and begins to waste away. Her husband fears for her life and one night he breaks into the garden to get some for her. When he returns, she makes a salad out of it and eats it, but she longs for more so her husband returns to the garden to retrieve some more. As he scales the wall to return home, the sorceress catches him and accuses him of theft. He begs for mercy and she agrees to be lenient, allowing him to take all the rapunzel he wants on condition that the baby be given to her when it's born.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel#cite_note-7 Desperate, he agrees.

Rapunzel - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Rumpel]

>>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapun..._Rapunzel_-_Project_Gutenberg_etext_11027.jpg <<<

Does anybody remember this fairy tale?

 

[Lisa]

Valerianella locusta, mâche, cornsalad or lamb's lettuce - which of the many names for it do you know - and which name do you use?

This now is a culinary and a gastronomical topic - with a lingistic touch as well.

Maybe you can click on all the names you have read or heard - and then say which of these names you normally use.

That was considered a weed in our vegetable garden and I spent hours pulling it up and tossed it on the compost pile. I hate it.

Maybe the rabbits liked it.

 

[Rumpel]

That was considered a weed in our vegetable garden and I spent hours pulling it up and tossed it on the compost pile. I hate it.
Maybe the rabbits liked it.

Here we sow in in our gardens on purpose and like it very much.
And yesterday we had it for lunch, together with Quiche Lorraine, as I said.

I have found these names for it:
Alsatian: Fäldsalat
French: la mâche

I still find it hard to believe that ABOLUTELY NOBODY in this forum should know it as a good food for human beings.
Maybe in the year 2073 somebody will come along here and say: "I know it ......"

 

[Lisa]

Here we sow in in our gardens on purpose and like it very much.
And yesterday we had it for lunch, together with Quiche Lorraine, as I said.

I have found these names for it:
Alsatian: Fäldsalat
French: la mâche

I still find it hard to believe that ABOLUTELY NOBODY in this forum should know it as a good food for human beings.
Maybe in the year 2073 somebody will come along here and say: "I know it ......"

I love Quiche Lorraine. That was a occasional brunch treat after Sunday mass occaionally growing up. I have made that or 'Zwiebel Kuchen for a light meal on sundays with a salad.

 

[Rumpel]

Now I have found this:

Twenty years ago, some Bay Area chefs returned from France with seeds for baby lettuces, and soon spring mix salad was born in the United States. Today, you can find the tender little leaves in bags and bins in nearly every grocery store. Since then, Americans have experienced a romance with radicchio, a rage for arugula, and a frenzy over frisee. Now, a California entrepreneur is trying to get American salad eaters to turn over a new leaf -- mache lettuce. NPR's John McChesney reports.

Mache, also called lamb's lettuce, has been cultivated in France since the 17th century. But in California's Salinas Valley, the tiny, dark green plant with the sweet, nutty flavor is making its American commercial debut under the auspices of grower Todd Koons. Koons helped launch America's love affair with bagged spring-mix salad, and he hopes to duplicate his success with mache.

Mache: America's Next Lettuce Love?​

 

[Rumpel]

And now I have found this:

Etymology
Corn salad is the name often used in the United States since this green tends to grow wild in many American cornfields.

Lamb’s lettuce is an old English name: this green first appears in spring during lambing season and is a lamb’s favorite food and each leaf looks a bit like a lamb’s tongue.

Talking about Mâche
Mâche is native to the Mediterranean region and has been in cultivation since the time of the ancient Romans.

Mâche grows in rosettes of spoon-sized round or oval, grey-green leaves that measure 4 to 12 inches (10-30 cm) long depending upon the variety. The leaves can feel a bit velvety to the touch.

Mache (lamb's lettuce), All About Salad Greens on Gourmetpedia

Mache, lamb's lettuce, corn salad, All About Salad Greens on Gourmetpedia

gourmetpedia.net

 

[Rumpel]

Maybe the rabbits liked it.

Lambs like it in spring. Hence: lamb's lettuce.
And many human beings like it all year round.

 

[Rumpel]

Well known in Britain, but not in the US, as it seems.
Maybe some British members know it?

Cornsalad was originally foraged by European peasants. Jean-Baptiste de La Quintinie, royal gardener of King Louis XIV, introduced it to kitchen gardening.[10] It has been eaten in Britain for centuries and appears in John Gerard's Herbal of 1597.[11] It was grown commercially in London from the late 18th or early 19th century and appeared on markets as a winter vegetable, but it only became available in modern supermarkets there in the 1980s

Valeriana locusta - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org