FOOD RESOURCE COLLEGE OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SCIENCES, OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
CORN SALAD, LAMB'S LETTUCE, VALERIANELLA OLITORIA
Garrett, Theodore Francis (edited by). 1898. the Encyclopedia of Practical Cookery. L. Upcott Gill, 170, Strand, W.C. London. Vol. I
is the name given to an annualo herb (Valerianella olitoria) sometimes used in salad, and known also as Lamb's lettuce. It has a slightly bitter taste, and although it may be used by itself, it is better as an addition to lettuce salads. On the continent it is known as doucette.
The Wide Encyclopedia of Cookery. An Encyclopedic Handbook for the Homemaker covering Foods and Beverages-their Purchase, Preparation, and Service. 1951. Wm. H. Wise & Co., Inc., New York.
another name for field salad.
Excerpts from Hawkes, Alex D. 1968. A World of Vegetable Cookery. Simon and Schuster, New York.
Corn Salad (Valerianella olitoria, of trhe Valerian Family) is an autumn-sprouting annual plant, gathered in great quantities in the springtime, especially in fields of corn and other grains. The spoon-shaped or round leaves grow in compact rosettes and are of a pleasant firm texture and somewhat lettucelike flavor. One of its other common names, in fact, in Lamb's lettuce. The French know it as mache.
A distinctive kind, Italian Corn Salad, has longer, paler, slightly hairy leaves, and, as it s name implies, is found particularly in Italy.
Hedrick, U.P. editor. 1919. Sturtevant's Notes on Edible Plants. Report of the New York Agricultural Experiment Station for the Year 1919 II. Albany, J.B Lyon Company, State Printers. [References Available]
is an annual plant that has been found spontaneous in all temperate Europe as
far as 60 degrees north; in southern Europe to the Canary Isles, Madeira
and the Azores; in north Africa, Asia Minor and in the region of the Caucasus.
This species seems quite variable in nature, and, as long ago as 1623, Bauhin
records its variability in size, saying it occurs with narrow, broad and
enitre leaves. Corn salad is described by Lobel, 1576; Dalechamp, 1587;
as also by Camerarius 1588; but will all, as occurring in fields and without
mention of culture, although its value as a salad is recognized. In 1597,
Gerarde says it has grown in use among the French and Dutch strangers in
England and "hath beene sowen in gardens as a sallad herbe." He figures
two varieties. J. Bauhin describes two sorts and gives Tabernacemontanus
as a witness that it was found in gardens as well as in fields and vineyards.
Ray, 1686, quotes J. Bauhin only; Chabraeus, 1677, describes it as grown
in gardens as a salad herb; Worlidge, 1683, Maeger, 1683, Quintyne, 1693
and 1704, Townsend, 1726, Stevenson, 1765, Mawe, 1778, Bryant, 1783, all
refer to its culture in England. In France, according to Heuze, the species
is spoken of as cultivated by Olivier de Serres and is referred to as if
a well-known cultivated salad in Le Jardinier Solitaire, 1612. Corn
salad was in American gardens previosu to 1806. vilmorin describes four
varieties, which are distinct. All these have blunt leaves. The variety
quite frequently distributed in American gardens is that which is figured
by the herbalists as having pointed leaves; as, for instance: