Lettuce

Lettuce is an angiosperm plant (or a plant with flowers) which in common language is mistakenly called a "salad", whereas in reality lettuce is the dish that is prepared using it.It can be eaten in different ways: raw, if the plant is fresh, or boiled or stewed where it is suitable for creating first courses such as soups, etc., or as a decoction (although cooking generally changes its nutritional properties, which we will see below). The origins of lettuce are rather uncertain; it is thought to have its primary centre of origin in the Middle East, but it was also eaten in Europe from the time of the Greeks and Romans (from whom Roman lettuce seems to have originated).

Whatever the variety, there are two main nutritional characteristics they have in common.

-As it consists of approximately 95% water, it has a great ability to rehydrate the human body;

-A whitish latex is released from the base of the lettuce as soon as it is picked (known as lactucarium and from which the name of the lettuce derives) which, like opium, has mild sedative properties. In fact, wild lettuce was studied in 1911 by the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, which found, in addition to Lactucopicrin and Lactucine, other molecules with mild sedative properties, all contained in lactucarium. It is therefore a food that is particularly suitable for consumption during evening meals by all those people (children in particular) who are nervous, agitated or have difficulty falling asleep. For this purpose, as well as eating it raw, you can prepare a decoction by boiling half a stump of lettuce in ¼ litre of water for 5 minutes. Drink immediately after letting the liquid cool and straining it.