Growing Mâche for Fall and Winter Salads

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I was planning my fall garden. One of the plants I mentioned is called mâche, also known as corn salad, also known as lamb's lettuce. Since mâche is not one of the common vegetables in the US, I thought I'd tell you a bit more about it.

Mâche is better known in Europe, often found in markets in the spring. Some say the name lamb's lettuce is due to the fact that it is available during the spring lambing season. Others say that the name lamb's lettuce comes from the fact that it was commonly found wild in pasture land where sheep grazed. In addition to growing wild, mâche is cultivated for sale in most of Europe. Mâche grows in compact rosette form and is used both raw in salads and cooked in soups and stews. It prefers the cooler months, often planted in very early spring or in the fall after the hot weather has abated for the year.

Many gardeners in Europe and Scandinavia grow mâche in a poly tunnel-style greenhouse in the winter months. While it may not put on much growth during the shortest days, it will hold in a bed under a clear cover such as what a poly tunnel can provide. If planted outdoors in the elements, it is cold hardy to about 5 degrees F (although it needs temps of between 50 and 70 for seed germination). Mâche is considered one of the most cold hardy vegetables. In my area, where overnight lows rarely reach the teens, mâche will hold in my garden, even under snow. In late winter to early spring, it should begin to put on new growth, which can be eaten, before bolting.

I started my seeds a little over a week ago indoors inside a damp paper towel. Earlier this week I noticed the seeds were sprouting, so I very carefully transferred the seeds into soil and am keeping the tiny plants under lights. Our very hot weather appears to be over for the summer, according to the weather forecasters. We may have a week of high 70s to low 80s later this month. I will be keeping the mâche under lights indoors until the last week of August, then I will transplant the small plants into a garden bed. I'll also be starting a second batch of these seeds in another 2 weeks and then again a third batch about 1 month from now, and a final batch sometime in late September, to prolong my harvest and have some of the leafy greens holding in the garden through winter under a row cover. I expect to be able to begin harvesting the leaves in about a month, adding to our September salads. Mâche can either be harvested one leaf at a time, in a cut and come again fashion, or by cutting the plant off at the base. Since I want to maximize my harvest, I'll pluck a few leaves at a time, leaving time for more to develop. It's flavor is nutty and its texture is like butterhead lettuce.

Mâche is said to make an excellent green manure, tilling in the remains of the plants after harvest. So, I'll try that as well, instead of digging up the plants and throwing on the compost heap.

So that's mâche. Have you ever tried this leafy green?

My Two Muffin Tweaks This Summer

Yum, blueberry muffins for a summer morning. 

Our blueberry bushes are past the peak in berry production for the year. So I'm making the most of what we have left. I made blueberry pancakes the other morning. And on Tuesday, I made another batch of blueberry muffins. 

I've been fiddling around with my scratch muffin recipe this summer, trying to waste less as well as conserve our egg supply. For my last couple of batches of muffins I've left out the usual 1 egg called for. To compensate for the leavening the egg provided, I increased the ratio of baking powder (or my substitute -- baking soda plus vinegar) to flour. To do this, I cut the flour amount from 2 cups to 1 1/2 cups but left the baking powder amount as originally called. The oil, sugar, salt, and milk remained the same as before. The first time I made muffins omitting the egg I was afraid the finished muffins would be too crumbly. As it turned out, they were just as muffin-y as I would expect. I'm now wondering what types of muffins actually need that egg. Perhaps muffins that are naturally more crumbly, like bran muffins. But for the rest, as long as I'm short on eggs, I'll be leaving the egg out of my muffins. The only drawback to this egg-less muffin technique is my new batch now makes 9 muffins, whereas the old batch made 12, due to reducing the flour by 1/2 cup. I could always do the math and figure a new recipe based on a greater amount of flour.  But that would be work. Some day, when I have nothing else to do and want a little math problem . . .

The other change I've made this summer is to skip the muffin papers. It has always annoyed me that so much of a muffin is lost due to sticking to the little paper cup. Simply greasing the muffin tin was never enough either. Instead of some of the muffin sticking to the paper, a thin layer of muffin crumbs stuck to the tin. After our conversation about greasing and flouring cake and loaf pans I decided to try greasing and flouring the muffin tin wells. This works amazingly well. Not only do the muffins not stick, but they come cleanly out of the tin, no crumbs left behind. Yes, it is work to grease and flour the tin. I can imagine there will be more times in the future where using the muffin liner papers will be the simpler choice. But for now, I'm really pleased to waste less of the muffin.

So those are the two tweaks I've made to my scratch muffins this summer, leaving the egg out and greasing and flouring the tins.