Lettuce is a vegetable. There are four main kinds of lettuce: crisphead, butterhead, romaine (or cos), and leaf. There are a huge number of varieties of each kind.

• botanical information
• nutritional information
• selection
• storage
• magick correspondences and uses
• Goddesses and deities
• Chinese herbology
• cautions and contraindications

botanical information:

    Botanical name: Lactuca sativa var. capitata

    Common name: lettuce

    Use the botanical name when ordering seeds (bulbs, etc.) or when looking up information in the library. Common names vary by nation, culture, and region, and sometimes the same common name is applied to different plants.

nutritional information:

    Lettuce is a source of calcium, copper, iodine, and iron.

    See also Chinese herbalism below for Chinese gender and Chinese flavor.

 

kinds of lettuce

• butterhead
• crisphead
• leaf
• Romaine lettuce

selection:

    Reason to choose organic:
    Lettuce has the number eight (8) highest pesticide load of 45 common fruits and vegetables studied in 2006 by the Environmental Working Group and is therefore a prime candidate for switching to organic. The EWA explains, “While washing and rinsing fresh produce may reduce levels of some pesticides, it does not eliminate them. Peeling also reduces exposures, but valuable nutrients often go down the drain with the peel. The best option is to eat a varied diet, wash all produce, and choose organic when possible to reduce exposure to potentially harmful chemicals.”
    According to USDA and FDA tests on commercially grown foods collected between 2000 and 2005, lettuce has a 68.2% (percentage) of samples tested with detectable pesticides, a 44.2% (percentage) of samples with two or more pesticides, a 1.7 average number of pesticides found in a sample, an average of 0.142 parts per million of all pesticides found, and 57 different pesticides found in use growing lettuce. These toxic pesticides don’t apply to organic foods.

storage:

    Storage: Eat lettuce within five days of purchase.

Salad garden
Buttercrunch Lettuce	Ruby Red Lettuce
courtesy of Green Earth Ministries (a Christian cannabis religion)

magickal correspondences and uses:

Magical Uses Chastity, Protection, Love, Divination, Sleep information courtesy of

deities associated with lettuce:

• Min (Kemetic/ancient Egyptian God)

    Ancient Egyptian men rubbed lettuce juice into their hair to prevent baldness (a cure that did not work).

Chinese herbalism:

    Chinese gender: neutral

cautions and contraindications:

    Cautions and contraindications: Lettuce is believed to be safe.

next food