Vegetable seed review: De Morges Braun lettuce

Jan 01, 2011

I've grown this plant many times in the past, and I've been impressed at how it keeps damping-off diseases at bay and grows relatively fast in cool weather. Right now, I'm itching for spring, and I planted some indoors (without a heat map), thinking that I could transplant them out relatively early.

If you're looking for a lettuce that is tolerant of cool soils, this is a good seed to stock up on. I bought it through Territorial Seed Check out my other seed recommendations.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR, amy manning

I'm a suburban homesteader (or at least attempting to be!).

Comments

Joel LeGrand

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 16:55

Nice plants, are you in zone 7,8,9?

amy manning

Sat, 01/01/2011 - 21:25

I live in zone 8

Jessica Still

Sun, 01/02/2011 - 13:54

Amy, have you ever come across any research saying that redder greens & lettuces have more anti-oxidants? I keep suspecting that it's out there - but haven't seen any myself.

amy manning

Sun, 01/02/2011 - 16:33

Do you have a copy of Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking"? This is an excellent book about food. It was required reading when I was in culinary school, though, I already owned the book prior to my arrival. http://astore.amazon.com/livinoutsithe-20/detail/0684800012 Here is a link to buy it through my Amazon store, should you be interested. So, to answer your question, there are a few different pigments that show up in your food. Chlorophyll, carotenoids, anthocyanins, and anthocyanidin. Chlorophyll makes green, carotenoids make yellows and orange, anthocyanins make blues and purples. These pigments, carotenoids, anthocyanins, anthocyanidins, are also the antioxidants that you are referring to. This is why the scientists say that you should eat your colors. So... if you are looking for antioxidants in your vegetables, for the most part all you have to do is look at the colors. The colors indicate that there are high levels of those pigments, which are the antioxidants you are looking for. If you look on some of the seed descriptions for the redder or purple-ish lettuces they will frequently talk about high levels of antioxidants. I saw a story on the news a while ago about the All-Blue potato. The newscasters were saying how they had talked to a scientist who said that the All-blue potatoes were amazingly high in antioxidants and it is a powerhouse food. And I thought to myself: well of course it is just look at it! They failed to mention that the mere color of the vegetable indicates its presence. On the flip side, anthocyanins can also contribute to an astringent sensation in your mouth. Just think of what happens sometimes with red wine. This is partly why red wine is often only served with food, because it will tame down the level of astringency in the wine. A little color is good, but sometimes it can be too much. This is probably why I don't care for the red-stemmed chard. Phew. Sorry, I'm kind of a food dork. Here's a link to wikipedia about anthocyanins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthocyanin Hmmm... maybe I should write a blog post about this.

david e kelley

Sun, 01/02/2011 - 17:19

Amy, this is only a teaser for an interesting blog. We take too many pills and liquid supplements when fresh, colorful vegetables and fruits could supply the anti oxidents we need. I'm looking forward to more information from you on this subject . Stay natural, David

Joel LeGrand

Sun, 01/02/2011 - 19:49

Amy a blog sounds good, you could put a topic on the "Nutrition" Group also.

Jessica Still

Tue, 01/04/2011 - 12:24

I second David's "looking forward to more" - was going to say I think you have already written an excellent blog post here ... Because you are so full of the subject & have integrated such a big range of related aspects - you can pour out the essence of the info, put it in context, plus make it readable, memorable & fun. Albert Einstein said, "If you know what you're doing, you can explain it to an intelligent ten year old." Again, your little son is a lucky boy, growing up in your company. And so are your readers & followers of your blog lucky. Your gift is especially important for the audience mindset your blog targets - people who want to learn more about living productively. Thank you for the great further leads. On Food and Cooking is a must for rebuilding my library & I will definitely come to your Amazon store to pick it up.

amy manning

Tue, 01/04/2011 - 12:36

Thanks Jessica! I hope to write a post about this soon, for other people who may be wondering the same thing. For now, I'm taking the Oregon State University's Master Gardener course, which is my current focus and has my head spinning. I hope, if I can figure out how to write about it, to publish my notes on the blog. I think that would be awfully helpful for people! Thanks for the kind words!

You can grow your own food. We can help.

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