Miner's Lettuce
Miner’s Lettuce or claytonia perfoliata abounds in our greenhouse. It is the first edible green ready in spring. We have been eating it for a couple of months now. I am not sure how it originally came to be there. Miner’s lettuce does grow in the wild, but I have not seen it on our property outside of the greenhouse and my husband and I have grown many obscure greens, but this was not one of them. Most likely it was sown by the previous owners of our home and has taken care of its longevity on its own, self sowing with proliferation every year. I have read that miner’s lettuce was named after the gold rush miners of California that ate it because of its high vitamin C content, hoping to ward off scurvy.
This almost succulent green, is delicious in salads, which is how we eat it. It is quite pretty too, with its lily pad like leaf and delicate little white flower in the center. My children prefer miner’s lettuce above all other greens. When it first appears in the spring they shovel it in as if they were the miners suffering from scurvy. I am not opposed. After a long vegetable-less winter, their bodies seem to be crying, “I need you! More, more more!”
Tags: greenhouse, miner's lettuce, Spring
I’m jealous! I keep trying to find the right time to plant miner’s lettuce in my hotter region. I feel like I should be able to do it in very early spring or perhaps in the fall, but so far I can’t even get it to germinate. It’s nice to live vicariously through your story and photo, though!