When people talk about asparagus salad, many people immediately think of asparagus, which you can dress in butter, but which also taste good as a salad.
Chinese cultivated plant
But we don't mean exactly the asparagus here. Because there is a plant that is actually called asparagus lettuce. This is a Chinese cultivated plant. Visually, it looks not dissimilar to the green lettuce, it has lush green leaves that are very strong.
Leaves taste slightly bitter
The leaves taste slightly bitter. What is special, however, is the handle. It grows when the lettuce is actually ready to be harvested. Here you should wait with the asparagus salad until it really starts to shoot. Then the stalk grows up in the middle of the plant, similar to asparagus. And it is precisely this stalk that is most aromatic in the asparagus salad. Like asparagus, you can serve it in butter or add it to a salad. Something different for salads.
Red Star and Chinese Mace
If you would like to be won over by this aromatic plant, you can buy the seeds from a seed dealer or garden centre . Popular varieties are the Red Star and the Chinese Club. The asparagus lettuce, like the other lettuce plants, is planted in the garden or in the greenhouse. The asparagus lettuce prefers nutrient-rich, loose and sunny soil.