Lettuce - Celtuce Stem

OP. A slightly different take on lettuce, predominantly grown for its stems, the leaves are also eaten. Originating in the Mediterranean this variety was brought to China during the Tang dynasty sometime around A.D. 600–900. Also known as Stem Lettuce, Chinese Lettuce or Asparagus Lettuce, in China the stem and leaves have different names, wosun and yóumàicài respectively and each are prepared in different ways. The name Celtuce came about when David Burpee, founder of Burpee Seed Company, rebranded it from Asparagus Lettuce to the American market. He married the words celery and lettuce into the new name as a way of making it sound appealing to his market and he found this lettuce to have a celery like flavour. It seemed to work, as this name is well known today and the name it arrived with to our hands, when our fellow seed saver Jenny Freemantle sent us a sample this last spring. This lettuce grows a long edible stalk with a head of romaine like leaves at the top, averaging 3-4 cm in diameter and 15-20 cm in length. The stem is often stir-fried but can also be eaten raw in salads, pickled, roasted or grilled. The leaves that grow along the stem are often tough and bitter and usually removed, leaving the more tender younger leaves at the top for eating either fresh in a salad, braised in a broth, added to a soup or pasta. A good source of potassium, manganese, vitamins A, B9 and C. 

Sow in early Spring, repeat monthly for continuous supply. Sow into trays, prick out at 4cm diagonal spacing when true leaves emerge. Transplant into fertile soil at 20cm. As some seeds require heat to germinate, lettuces DO NOT germinate if soil temperature is too high. In summer we have found lettuces do not germinate in glasshouse conditions, instead we germinate them in our shadehouse.

150 seeds.