Celtuce ✦

Laitue asperge

What it is

China selected the same species as garden lettuce for the opposite trait: a stem that thickens and stays sweet instead of bolting into bitterness, the leaves reduced to an afterthought. An American seed house put it on the Western market in the 1940s under a coined name, celery plus lettuce, and it went nowhere.

In the kitchen

Peel deep — the outer layer is stringy and bitter, and you can see where it ends, a pale ring inside the green. The jade core wants a minute at most in the wok, or a salting and a rinse to be eaten raw.

Goes with

Toasted sesame oil Garlic Chili pepper Soy sauce Rice vinegar Ginger Pork

Same species

Lettuce

In season alongside

Sweetfish (ayu) Bell pepper Blue corn Borage Celeriac Celery

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