Lettuce is hand-harvested and takes place year-round, from April to October in the Salinas Valley, California and from November to March in Yuma, Arizona. Lettuce is one of the top three vegetables produced in the US, along with tomatoes and potatoes.
In addition to being the Sunniest City in the World, Yuma County is the Lettuce Capital; and you’re kidding yourself if you think the two are unrelated. Undisputedly, agriculture is the number one industry for Yuma County. Likewise, people ask, where is most lettuce grown?
El Centro was known as the Lettuce Capital of the World. The ubiquity of lettuce in Ditchbank Girl’s youth may hint at why she avoids it today in any salad, sandwich, tostada, taco, or other food. She remembers when a dump truck would deposit a pile of “cull” lettuce into a cow pasture.
Who knew? Unless you’re a homesteader, a Sunbelt resident who eats only food from your local farmers market, or an extremely devout carnivore, you’ve almost certainly eaten lettuce from Yuma, Arizona, a city of 93,000 at the nexus of Arizona, California and Mexico.
Where is lettuce grown in New York?
If you’ve ever visited a lettuce farm in, say, the Hudson Valley of New York, it can be a little unsettling to see a huge field of lettuce in Yuma with palm trees and mountains in the background. Advertisement. These fields stretch for miles to the east of Yuma, up the often-dry Gila River.
Unless you’re a homesteader, a Sunbelt resident who eats only food from your local farmers market, or an extremely devout carnivore, you’ve almost certainly eaten lettuce from Yuma, Arizona, a city of 93,000 at the nexus of Arizona, California and Mexico. The Yuma area, including the Imperial Valley across the California border, …
Oak leaf lettuce comes in both red and green varieties. It grows as individual lobed leaves with soft and ruffly leaves. The taste is sweet and mild, comparable to Boston lettuce. Photo from asha susan, Flickr.
Watercress is an aquatically grown lettuce that has long hollow stems with round lobed leaves. It has a peppery taste. Enjoy it on its own, in mixed salads, or wilted into Asian soups and stir-frys.
Radicchio is Italian in origin. The lettuce is characterized by dark red leaves with bright white stems on a tightly packed head. The taste is bitter. Radicchio comes in two main varieties, the small cabbage-like Chioggia and oblong Treviso. Radicchio is great in mixed salads and also works well grilled.
Boston (a.k.a. Bibb) lettuce is delicate lettuce with pale green, soft cup-shaped leaves. The flavor is mild and sweet. Sometimes in the supermarket you will find hydroponically grown Boston lettuce, which has the benefit of having no dirt or sand in the leaves. Photo from photofarmer, Flickr.
The biggest booth was run by Dole, but a few smaller farmers also were selling their wares.
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