Quick facts
- Amish heirloom
- Deer tongue lettuce
- Dark green leaves
- Nutty flavor
- Slow Food Ark of Taste Variety
Lactuca sativa
Deer's tongue lettuce. Solid green, triangular leaves have thin midribs and make an attractive rosette that can be harvested all at once like a heading lettuce, or harvested as a cut and come again lettuce.
Amish Deer Tongue dates back to the 1740s and is part of the Slow Food Ark of Taste.
How to grow it:
|
Germ Temp |
Indoor Start |
Germ Days |
Frost Tolerant |
Sun |
Seed Depth |
Plant/Row Spacing |
|
60-75 |
3-5 w. |
6-17 d. |
Light |
Shade to Full |
1/16” |
3-6”/8-10” |
| Direct sow up to 4 weeks before the average last frost. Plant successively every two weeks to keep you in young greens, or give them more space to mature and harvest the whole head. |
Seed specs: Packet size~ 200 min.
Slow Food ARK OF TASTE Variety:
For it's rich history and cultural significance, this pea has been chosen to board the Slow Food Ark of Taste. The Slow Food Ark of Taste is where "culinary heritage meets biodiversity." Varieties placed on the "ark" are those whose rich history and cultural significance is well documented, yet whose existence is threatened simply by the lack of people growing and perpetuating it. Varieties of crops, like species of plants and animals, can (and do) go extinct from lack of habitat and unfavorable conditions. These varieties deserve preservation not just because they each have a great story, but because the futures of our evolving food crops depend on a rich well of genetic diversity with which they can continually adapt, and be adapted by plant breeders, to thrive in changing conditions. In the case of our food crops, the unfavorable conditions leading to a decrease in diversity are many, but one we can immediately address is the decrease in the number of people growing these crops and saving these seeds.
A small kitchen garden really can change the world!