Mesclun--the art of the mixture

07/30/2002
Mesclun--the art of the mixture

I hope that none of you out there is still suffering your way through bowls of supermarket iceberg lettuce. Even if you live in an apartment, there's no reason why you shouldn't be devouring succulent, tender, piquant, crunchy, beautiful bowls of mesclun every evening.

Just what is mesclun? Literally, a mixture. The name comes from the Latin verb misculare--"to mix." And what is in this mix? Well, that depends both on the season and the gardener's tastes, but it preferably includes some sharp and even slightly bitter greens, as well as herbs, flowers, and some wild plants or plants of wild origin, as well as some cutting lettuces, all harvested at a young and succulent age.

Mesclun has been around since Neolithic times. What do you think the gatherers in the hunter-gatherer societies were gathering, anyway? Edible wild plants, an indispensable source of vitamins and minerals. One of the things I love about mesclun is that many wild plants are still cultivated as part of a good mix. Another thing that appeals to me about it is that I'm a great believer in eating as absolutely wide a variety of vegetables, fruits, and nuts as possible. You never know what undiscovered nutritional agents might be lurking here and there, just waiting for you to eat them so you might benefit from them.

So let's start with the more interesting side of mesclun, the wild stuff. First of all, there's orach, the tall lime green and Bordeaux-colored plants near the center of the main photo. Like many mesclun ingredients, orach can be used as a salad or as a "potherb," or cooking green (and I adore all cooking greens).



Another classic wildling is arugula or roquette. The wild form (Diplotaxis tenuifolia), pictured at left, is favored by the Italians and the French, for its, well, wilder flavor. It has much smaller, more dentate leaves, and is much slower to germinate, grow, and bolt than the domesticated, large-leaf strain. I let it flower and self-sow from year to year in the same spot, just adding some manure. So even though it's an annual, it appears perennially. Arugula grows excellently in cool to even cold weather. In summer heat, it tends to flower and go to seed, although as mentioned, the wild form is much slower to do this.



Purslane (right), a member of the Portulacaceae, on the other hand, is a hot-weather weed. Yes, weed, as most of you in the U.S. have experienced it. I grow both the wild, prostrate green form, and the bright chartreuse, cultivated form. They are both in the photo, but the wild form is sort of hard to notice next to the larger, more upright golden one. Purslane is much appreciated for salads in France, and is only carried by the most exclusive green grocers. In Mexico, it is used as a pot herb; see Rick Bayless's excellent cookbooks.



Here's a "weed" (in Europe anyway) that has become a major salad crop in France. M”che or lamb's lettuce, at left, (so called because this plant grows so low to the ground that only a sheep or goat could eat it) is in all French greengrocers and even supermarkets all year round. One of my favorite salad greens, m”che has a flowery taste and delicate texture. The rosettes are so small they can be served whole, after careful washing and removal of the root. An almost ideal salad green, m”che grows virtually year-round in most parts of the country, as it is extremely cold-tolerant yet never becomes bitter during hot weather (though it will flower).



For those willing to wander farther afield in search of "field greens," which is what the supermarkets now call their water-soaked "baby" lettuce mix many now offer, there are unusual plants such as the European wild stag-horn plantain (Plantago coronopus), known as "minutina" in the U.S. Excellent for winter salads because of its cold-tolerance, this wild green nevertheless grows in summer too, without becoming bitter. It has thick, crunchy, narrow leaves with an almost salty flavor.

The full range of endives and chicories are indispensable for the mesclun bowl, as they lend a subtle bitter note and a special texture that salad-heads much appreciate. For curly endives, harvest the young leaves. Then, as the plant gets bigger, tie the leaves together or put some sort of opaque cloche over the plant to blanch it. Chicories, especially the succulent Italian varieties, may be harvested as young leaves, then allowed to grow (and become very bitter) throughout summer. In early fall, cut the leafy tops off at ground level. You'll be rewarded with the familiar red and white marbled round or conical (depending on variety) succulent, tight "radicchio" heads, which will sprout from the roots, through winter and early spring.

The brassica or mustard family are another whole tribe to draw on for your salad bowl. The beautiful red-tinged 'Osaka Purple' is exquisite when young as a salad, and succulent braised as a cooking green later on. Garden cress is another common component of mesclun mixes, but beware, because many ready-made mixes are too rich in this fast-growing, fast-bolting plant which is best grown in the fall and winter. Young spinach is of course always a succulent addition to the mix, and is very cold-tolerant as well.

Lettuces form the base of the mesclun mix. Choose your varieties for the beauty of their forms and colors as well as for their suitability for your intended season of growth. Good seed catalogs, such as Johnny's Selected Seeds, Shepherd's Seeds, and so forth, will always specify the intended season of the lettuce variety. I like to stick to old and European lettuce varieties as they offer some of the most beautiful foliage as well as the most flavor and silky to crunchy textures. Good ones include 'Lolla Rossa,' 'Rouge Grenobloise,' 'Deer Tongue,' 'Sanguine,' and 'Rougette de Montpelier,' to name just a few. The more modern 'Red Salad Bowl' isn't to be sneezed at either, as it is pretty and well adapted to cut-and-come-again treatment.

With all that I've told you hear, I've only revealed the tip of the iceberg (not the lettuce variety, thank you) of the possibilities of mesclun. All herbs are fare game for the bowl, as are edible flowers. And wild-harvested greens offer some of the most epicurean treats of all. Consider violet leaves, young dandelions (eaten nearly to extinction here in France), the rosettes of Campanula rapunculus for a real Middle Ages touch, and the delicious Claytonia perfoliata, which deserves a place in every garden, just to be assured of a supply.

How to grow and harvest such a diverse mix of plants? Here is where I diverge from tradition. First of all, I prefer not to buy prepackaged mesclun seed mixes. I find they invariably contain a preponderance of something I would rather were in the minority. However, they're not a bad place to start. Then you can proceed on your own adventures from there.

But even more radical, contrary to tradition and all the recommendations, I prefer to mix my mesclun in the salad bowl and not in the garden bed. Because a good mesclun contains such a wide variety of plants of different sizes and different growth habits, I prefer to grow my preferred elements individually, and then select my mix as I harvest. I've found that mixing the seeds leads to some plants quickly overpowering others. However, you may successfully grow a seed mix of different lettuces or endives/chicories, or even the two together.

In general, I prefer to grow my major mesclun ingredients broadcast over a raised bed (my entire potager is in 3-foot-wide, unframed raised beds). I scatter the seed over a finely prepared bed enriched with plenty of rotted manure plus a source of potassium, such as greensand. Then I rake it in lightly and water regularly. All the classic salad greens taste better when they get plenty of water. Plant small amounts at a time, at frequent intervals, for harvest at the peak young stage.

Mesclun is an ideal crop for apartment dwellers, incidentally, because of its quick turn-around time. You can sow mixed seed, or pots of individual ingredients. Supply plenty of fertilizer and water for lush succulent growth. Mesclun greens are especially grown in large bowl-shaped pots, as they resemble just what they are--big bowls of salad.

When you want to harvest, head out to the garden with a sharp knife and a basket. Some people prefer to harvest leaf-by-leaf, while others whack off whole handfuls of the stuff. Part of your harvest method depends on how you've grown your plants, and on whether you want them to sprout again from their roots. Lamb's lettuce, for example, must be harvested as a whole plant, because it is so small.

Do your harvesting right before dinner. Rush your precious basket into the kitchen, and dump the contents into a sink full of cold water. Slosh everything around with your hand several times, then wait a few minutes for the dirt to settle. Lift the leaves out into a colander, drain the water and wash away the dirt, and repeat. Dry the greens in a centrifugal salad drier and dress with your finest olive oil and red wine or balsamic vinegar, freshly ground and the best sea salt. Rush to the table. Revel in the bouquet of flavors, colors, forms and textures on your plate. Heaven from earth!

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