This still lesser known salad green is one of the tastiest. The English names are corn salad, from its habit of growing wild in corn fields, and lamb’s lettuce, named, depending on who you read, either from the shape of the leaf which resembles a lamb’s ear, a lamb’s tongue, or because it is best during lambing season. It is the first fresh salad green of spring that comes from the garden in freezing climates. The deep green rosettes have a mild, nutty flavor and a buttery texture. They are delicious alone or mixed with other lettuces and greens.

Most varieties are planted in the late summer, early fall or very early spring. Mâche (pronounce as if the doctor asked you to say ahh) doesn’t do well in hot weather. Some varieties are more prone to mildew than others. Plant the seeds directly in the garden bed about 1/2" deep, 1" apart, and thin plants to 4" apart and rows 8" apart. Keep the beds evenly moist. Plants need 40 to 70 days to mature. Usually the entire plant is picked but you can also cut just the outer leaves. The plants need careful washing because dirt easily collects at the base of the leaves. If you buy mâche look for entire heads. They keep better than loose leaves although this salad green is best eaten very fresh.

Rosalind Creasy lists 5 varieties in her book, "The Edible French Garden". They are ‘Elan’, ‘Gayla’. ‘Piedmont’, ‘Verte de Cambrai’ and ‘Vit’ (fast). I found 5 kinds at a seed store in France, but only 1 has the same name. They were ‘Verte de Cambrai’,‘Verella’, ‘Valgros’, ‘Coquille de Louviers’ and ‘A Grosse Graine’ (large seeded.) The last is a warm weather variety. Seeds are available from Shepard’s, Cooks’ and Richters’ catalogues.

My favorite mâche salad combines the greens with slices of peeled oranges, mild onion and cooked beets, and with lightly toasted and chopped hazelnuts. The vinaigrette can be made with a little hazelnut oil to bring out the nuttiness of the mâche. Bon appetit!