The lettuce family is another one that doesn’t get used very much in processed foods. Like the carrot family, most of the foods are fairly mild and aren’t ruled out by various health suggestions.
Starting with the top of the plants: The flowers of chamomile are used as a tea or infusion; globe artichokes are immature flower heads and the centers or “hearts” are used as a vegetable; dried safflower flowers are used as a substitute for saffron for coloring foods; and dandelion flowers can be used to make dandelion wine. Sunflower seeds are used for eating and making seed oil, and niger and safflower are also used to make seed oil.
Leaves of different plants in this family are used in various ways. Lettuces are unassertive and are used in all types of salads. Belgian endives / chicory, radicchio, curly endives, escarole, edible chrysanthemums, and dandelion leaves are more bitter and are either used in smaller amounts in salads or cooked to mellow their flavor. Tarragon has fragrant leaves and is used as a herb. Stevia, or sugar-leaf, has very sweet leaves and is used as a sweetener — this is the only food in the family that is regularly processed. Essential oils from the leaves of absinthe/wormwood used to be used to make the liqueur absinthe.
The stalks of cardoons are used in Italian cookery. The roots of burdock/gobo, scorzonera / black salsify, and jerusalem artichokes / sunchokes are used as vegetables in some cooking traditions — they tend to give many people gas because of the type of carbohydrate they contain, an oligosaccharide called inulin. Chichory roots are used to make a coffee substitute, and dandelion roots have also been used for this.
Most food plants in this family originated in Europe and Asia; sunflowers and jerusalem artichokes are indigenous to North America, stevia is indigenous to South America, and niger seeds originated in Ethiopia. Some have been cultivated for thousands of years.
Lettuce is a common ingredient in foods for diets as it is very low in calories and doesn’t contain fat, and is relatively cheap. Weight loss and health diets don’t usually rule out foods in this family, apart from the roots during early stages of low-carbohydrate diets. But people who don’t like to eat greens might avoid lettuce and other foods in this family. People with certain types of IBS avoid the leaves in the family to avoid diarrhea, although as with most leaves the fiber they contain may help regulate bowel movements in other people.
Many of these foods aren’t used widely. Neophobes don’t like to try new or unfamiliar foods, so unless they’ve grown up with them they’re unlikely to want to try to them. Many of the foods here are also expensive, so people on a restricted budget are unlikely to buy them. People who don’t like bitter foods will avoid a lot of the leaves in the family, and people who tend to get gas may avoid the roots.
Do you avoid any foods in this family? Why?
Resources:
Food Plants of the World: An Illustrated Guide — Lots of historical and current information on food plant usage, and photos of the plants and the parts used for food.
Print This Post