Cardinale Lettuce

Latin name: Lactuca sativa

🌱 Days to Sprout: 7-14

😋 Plant food: after true leaves 

✂️ Thin to: 1 plant per yCube

🍅 Days to Maturity: 60

💡 Light Zone: Moderate

📏 Plant Size: <1 ft

💚 Care Level: Beginner

Cardinale is a French green equally beloved for its beauty, taste, and texture. Lettuce is thought to have originated in the Middle East, with the earliest depictions of it appearing in Egypt around 2700 BC. Ancient Egyptians bred lettuce plants to be less bitter than their wild counterparts, and used oil from wild lettuces for a variety of applications, including mummification.

Cardinale is a good source of vitamins A, C, and K, plus calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium. This variety is known for first growing as a beautiful, open rosette, then folding itself into a lovely, red, crisp head at maturity. The leaves are sturdy and crisp with a slightly sweet flavor.

This lettuce variety is perfect for any salad or sandwich. Larger leaves also make great bases for lettuce wraps.

💡Temperature: Prefers cooler temperatures (60-70°F), and if placed in higher temperatures, it will turn bitter, bolt, and flower early.

✂️ Pruning: Check the roots monthly and trim any that are brown or extending past the yPod. 

🥬 Harvest:For ongoing harvest, snip the outer leaves just above the base of the plant once they reach 4 inches tall to let the inner leaves continue to grow. Leave 1/3 of the plant if you want it to continue growing. To harvest the full head, wait until it reaches maturity, then harvest from the base.

Red Leaf & Mandarin Salad

Photo / Recipe Source: Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 8 cups torn red leaf lettuce

• 1 can (15 ounces) mandarin oranges, drained

• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

• 1/2 cup chopped sweet peppers

• 5 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons honey

• 4-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar

• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion or Bunching Onions

• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions

1. In a salad bowl, combine the lettuce, oranges, cheese and peppers.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the oil, honey, vinegar, mustard and salt. Stir in onion. Pour over salad and toss to coat.

3. Sprinkle with almonds. Serve immediately.

Our Plant Health & Nutrition Team thoroughly tests each variety we offer to bring you the most flavorful and high-quality plants. We regularly rotate our plant portfolio, so please note, availability varies.