Snapshot: celtuce

Celtuce is the new, cool vegetable on the food scene. Who knows – maybe it’ll become the next kale.

Let’s take a quick peek at what this food item is all about.

Definition: a variety of lettuce. . .having characteristics of both celery and lettuce, and eaten raw or cooked.

According to Food52.com, although this veggie has soft, buttery-but-slightly-bitter leaves, it’s more so cultivated for its stalk. This reputable food site recommends adding the leaves to a salad.

After being peeled, the remaining stalk can be cut circular-wise or length-wise, not unlike a carrot.  You can eat celtuce raw or it can be stir-fried. 

Celtuce reportedly tastes as the name would suggest – a cross between lettuce and celery. Joe Satran of the Huffington Post describes it more specifically:

“[It] reminded me of cooked leek. But it also had the homogeneity of a noodle and some of the crunch of shaved jicama. Its bright flavor was a little like a mix between bok choy, celery root, and water chestnut, but was far milder than any of those.”

Satran also mentions how it can be difficult to find this vegetable, because it is not yet popular enough for many farmers to grow. Therefore, it doesn’t have a high distribution.

If you do come across celtuce and want to give it a try, it is recommended to use it in recipes that call for celery – or, another obscure vegetable, its relative cardoons.