5th April: Lettuce

Lettuce was the vegetable celebrated today in the French Revolutionary calendar. Here are 10 fascinating facts about lettuce:

1. Lettuce is part of the Asteraceae family, meaning it is related to daisies and Sunflowers.
2. The first people to grow lettuce, in around 2680 BC, were the Egyptians, who grew it primarily for the seeds, which were used to produce oil, but somewhere along the way figured out the leaves were pretty tasty, too.
3. The name derives from as lactuca (lac meaning Milk in Latin), the name given to the plant by the Romans, because of the white stuff that seeps out of cut stems. That stuff is called latex today.
4. The latex contains mild narcotic substances, which have led to it being called "lettuce opium". The Anglo Saxons called lettuce "sleepwort". This is more pronounced in wild lettuces. This could be the reason folk medicine used lettuce as a cure for tension, nervousness, pain, rheumatism, coughs and insanity, even though modern science has found no proof that it works. It has also been touted by early American settlers, as a cure for smallpox and typhoid.
5. China is the top world producer of lettuce, but the Chinese eat most of it themselves, so Spain is the biggest exporter.
6. Lettuce is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, folate and Iron.
7. Lettuce is usually eaten raw, in a salad (a tradition started by the Romans), although it can be cooked. (According to Wikipedia, it is a major ingredient of... wait for it ... lettuce soup. I'd never have guessed that, Wikipedia, so thanks!!) A more surprising use is that lettuce leaves are used in the production of tobacco-free cigarettes.
8. Lettuce is usually harvested 65–130 days from planting, before they flower, as once they've flowered, the leaves turn bitter. If they were allowed to flower they develop flower stalks up to 3 feet (0.9 m) high with small Yellow blossoms. Varieties grown for their seeds flower quicker than the leafy types.
9. The Egyptians and the Romans believe lettuce to be an aphrodisiac. The Egyptians believed lettuce helped their reproduction god, Min, "perform the sexual act untiringly" and so it was sacred to him.
10. The ancient Greeks and 19th century women disagreed. The Greeks thought it made men impotent and Victorian women believed it caused infertility and sterility.