It seems to happen overnight… one day the lettuce is growing outwards in the happy hope of turning into something big and round, the next it’s shooting to the heavens in a tower reminiscent of a Japanese pagoda. These ones hadn’t so much as bolted as moved country and changed their names by deed poll.
Bolting, the formation of a flowering stalk, can either happen in lettuces when they are left too long and are beginning their natural seed-forming process, or when they have had a shock in their little lives. I think I left these – a green oakleaf – in their plug cells a bit too long where they probably got thirsty. Anyway, whatever the reason, the things have gone skyward before going sufficiently outward and we all know raw bolted lettuce is a horrible thing – a bitter-tasting beast not worthy of a decent salad, however deceptively pretty the leaves might look in a salad spinner.
So what to do? Make soup of course. I chose the first one I came across on Google, which was a bit of a mistake, since the end result was an innocuous poor man’s version of leek and potato soup made with a disconcerting quantity of milk.
Diana Henry’s looks far more appetising, as does this and this Hugh F-W one…
I’m now willing the rest of my lettuces to bolt so I can try them out…
Thanks very much for this tip!
I tried on the HFW ones (without the cream and with different herbs – sorry I’m very lazy – if it’s not in the cupboard/garden I’m not likely to cook with it).
It was OK – bit like cabbage based soups and certainly good enough considering it was using otherwise useless plants. A blob of homegrown/homemade onion chutney made all the difference