Origins of Mesclun

Mixed greens are the harbinger of spring and a spring tonic for good health.

My love affair with Mesclun started in 1980 when I first began to garden in Vermont, and a friend brought me a packet of arugula seeds from her trip to France. Unfamiliar with this European green, I sowed the seed in a long row next to the Black Seeded Simpson lettuce, and in less than a week the leaves were large enough to sample. That first sharp bite and bitter flavor left me wondering how could anyone savor this harsh bitter flavor?

Spring loose-leaf lettuce can be grown as cut and come again cutting mix.

A few weeks later, when the deep green, undulated leaves were large enough to harvest for a proper salad, I prepared a sweet, creamy dressing and tossed it with thin slivers of spring onion, early cucumbers, and crunchy croutons. To my surprise, the piquant greens took on a completely different personality. I could not get enough.

This small packet of Arugula led my curiosity to seek out more European salad greens, and go beyond the ordinary to try something extraordinary. I eventually launched a seed business, The Cooks Garden catalog, co-founded in 1984, specializing in hard-to-find lettuce and salad greens for home gardeners.  The garden became a testing and tasting ground for the discovery of a range of savory salad greens that are commonly known as Mesclun.

Summer lettuce is shaded by a paper umbrella. Photo from The Complete Kitchen Garden book.

What is Mesclun?

Back in the 1980s, Mesclun was not a common word and was still associated with the contraband of the 60s (hallucinogen Mescaline).  Thanks to the plastic clamshells full of mesclun available in every grocery store, it is now a commonplace term. Yet the origins derive from the Provencal word ‘miscellaneous greens’, which denotes a range of wild greens including wild Arugula, chicories, and other foraged bitter greens that peasants harvested for centuries throughout Europe to supplement their diet. (Ironic that we now pay $$ per pound for something that is essentially free.)

Before moving to Vermont, I was an art school graduate with a small sewing and design business. Growing food was not in my plans, yet quickly became both a way of life and a career. Getting to know food starts in the garden, and Mesclun is the best way to garden like a food artist.

When you grow Mesclun, it is all about getting lost in the creative process and continuously experimenting with flavor combinations. What could be more tempting than a plethora of frilly, undulating leaf patterns, ferny textures, and a tapestry of colorful edible flowers which is what Mesclun provides?

For a new gardener: Mesclun and lettuce are the perfect starter plants. Easy to direct sow from seed, satisfying to harvest, and remarkably tolerant of both weather and soil types. Mesclun prefers sun and rich organic soil, yet can be grown in a container or almost anywhere.

Transplanting young loose-leaf lettuce in the spring, sown from a mixed packet.

Single Packet vs. Mixed Packets

Most seed catalogs offer mixed packets because this makes it easier for the gardener. (Wild Garden Seeds is one of my favorite sources.) The drawback is that you will never know which of the greens you find most delicious, and they all grow at a different rate so you are never able to fully taste the full range all at once. Instead, try ordering separate packets of each of the Mesclun components and then mix them together in your salad bowl.

Start with a few easy varieties such as arugula, chervil, fennel, and a half dozen loose-leaf lettuces. From here, you can springboard to growing beet greens, sorrel, mustards, and tatsoi. Once you’ve felt successful, go ahead and grow everything you can find and completely saturate yourself with as many salad greens as you have room in the garden. Start now, and keep sowing all year round.

Succesion Planting TIp: Thomas Jefferson wrote in his journals that he planted a thimbleful of lettuce every Monday morning.  If you follow his routine, you will be rewarded with a succession of salad greens from early spring to late Fall.

Mesclun mixes were first cultivated by gardeners and commercialized back in 1743 by VIlmorin, a plant and seed boutique in France. Seed expert Claude Geoffrey and her husband Pierre Andrieux, were the chief seed suppliers and botanists to King Louis XV.  The company produced the first seed catalog for farmers including three types of blended Mesclun: Provencal, Nicoise, and Misticanza. Each was a unique and proprietary blend of lettuces, chicories, and herbs that offered spicy flavors.

Sowing Meslcun individually requires more garden space, yet provides the opportunity to taste each of the greens and mix them in perfect proportions.

After a bit of research, I found the proprietary recipes for Provencal, Nicoise, and Misticanza seed mixes that were the original recipes from the VIlmorin catalog. These are what I mix for my own garden. It combines the best of cutting lettuces and chicories in perfect proportions.

If you are an adventurous gardener, you love Mesclun, and would like to try blending your own, for paid subscribers I’ll share my secret seed recipes.