Mache Salad Greens
Mache, also known as corn salad, rapunzel, field salad, or lamb’s lettuce is a little known salad green with a mild lettuce like flavor.
This easily to cultivated vegetable can even be found growing wild in some areas.
Mache Greens for Fresh Winter Salads
Mache’s claim to fame is its cold hardiness and ability to survive and continue growing under very cold weather conditions.
This is a great edible plant to grow for harvesting leafy greens during the late fall and early spring periods when fresh produce is not readily available from the garden. Mache can be found flourishing long before most other leafy greens have established new growth at the start of spring.
Planting and Growing Mache
The large, round seeds are planted up until the middle of fall for late harvests, and the plants will also over winter in the open garden with no protection. Plant mache seeds in rows or scatter them thickly over a raised bed and cover with half an inch of compost or garden soil.
As they mature, mache plants will form a rosette of medium to dark green leaves that are elongated or slightly cup shaped. Thin the plants as required to provide room for them to reach full size and transplant or eat the thinned mache leaves.
Mache Varieties and Kitchen Uses
The simplest way to prepare mache is to use it as a salad ingredient without cooking. The flavor of the delicate leaves is very mild, almost to the point of being bland.
Cultivated mache varieties include: Verte de Cambrai, Medallion, Large Seeded Dutch, and Bistro.
Other Related Vegetable Gardening Posts:
- Garden Log 8-3-06
- Fall Gardening
- Winter Vegetables
- Jazzy Garden Salad for Festive Occasions
- Spring Greens
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February 7th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Thanks for reminding be about mache. It had somehow fallen off my seeds-to-order list this year. I first discovered it from a friend returning from Italy where it’s more popular. I’ve noticed that Whole Foods in my area now sells it fresh and it’s NOT inexpensive.
August 3rd, 2006 at 5:56 pm
[...] Later this month I’ll plant seeds for lettuce, spinach, cress, arugula, mache, and other salad greens directly into the garden for a fall harvest. And in September I’ll plant gourmet garlic and shallots in time for them to germinate and establish root systems before over-wintering for next season’s production. [...]
September 9th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
Kenny
I’ve just come accross your site and have looked at the link for “The World’s Best Compost” book by Rod Turner.
I can’t seem to find out where he is from and if the ingredients that he may tell me of in his book are available in Canada - Manitoba specifically.
Do you have any other info about him or his book? I have not figured out if this page is a blog for you or not. So I am not aware how it works. I will read further - so far have enjoyed everything that I have read.
Regards
May
September 9th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
Hello May, I have corresponded with Rod Turner a few times and I believe that he is from Australia. The site at The World’s Best Compost is not my website but is an affiliate product. The ingredients that he recommends and uses to create his compost are available, or can be grown in Canada.