Lettuce

Lettuce is a herbaceous edible plant which is characterized by concave leaves, crossed by a central rib and overlapping on each other. The inner leaves are smaller and lighter than the outer ones.

The most common varieties harvested in spring are the Ice Queen and the May Queen; the autumn types are the Trocadero and the Cavolo di Napoli; finally, the winter ones bear the names of "Wonder of the four seasons" with reddish leaves and "Wonder of winter". Another variety is the Roman lettuce, which has an elongated head and straight, smooth leaves, gathered in compact tufts.

Among the different winter varieties, there are also the Red, the Bionda and the Verde and the summer Bionda degli Ortolani. On the other hand, cutting lettuce produces small tufts of green leaves that sometimes fade to red.

Lettuce is excellent in salads (it must be fresh and crunchy), either alone or mixed with other types of salad; however, it can also be enjoyed boiled or inside soups and purées. Morevoer, the large leaves of the Cappuccio lettuce lend themselves well to covering bowls of appetizers, but also to make containers for meat or vegetable rolls.