Mache: A cold weather salad green
Mache greens are a cold weather salad green. They’re similar to Tatsoi, which is an Asian variety of Brassica. They are planted after the corn harvest so some people even refer to them as the corn salad green. Lamb's lettuce and fetticus are two other name variations.
As for preparing it, mache has a sweet nutty flavor. It can be used raw in salads as well as steamed or sautéed and served as a vegetable. Like many greens, the flavor will change slightly when heated.
It takes just a 3.5-ounce serving of mache to deliver 64 percent of the daily value of vitamin C. It also has a high concentration of iron, the mineral needed for healthy red blood cells. Additionally, a four-ounce serving of mache has over 250 mg of omega-3 fatty acids, which not only lower triglyceride levels in the blood, but they also increase the amount of high-density lipoprotein (HDP) (good cholesterol). All of these characteristics make it an ideal option for obtaining nutrients, especially throughout the winter, when some of us have decreased access to locally grown food.
Mache carries optimal levels of vitamins and nutrients, which include:
Calcium
Copper
Iron
Manganese
Omega-3 fatty acids
Phosphorus
Potassium
Tryptophan
Vitamin A
Vitamin B2
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B9
Vitamin C