Foraging Miner’s Lettuce, America’s Gift to Salad

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Miner\'s lettuce growing in my garden.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Here in Northern California, our spring comes early. By late February, everything that’s not concrete is green, greener than anything you can imagine. Ireland green. It is the Time of Salads. And no wild salad green is more important than miner’s lettuce, Claytonia perfoliata.

I live near Folsom, and within a mile I saw enough of miner’s lettuce to feed a small town. It is everywhere, so much so that no one can see it. It’s become wallpaper, an anonymous part of the green world we’re enjoying these days. I watched scores of people pass one of the world’s great salad greens without so much as a second glance.

I wonder if they just didn’t recognize the plant in its natural setting? After all, next to blackberries and wild fennel, miner’s lettuce is probably the most recognized wild edible in this part of the country.

Even dazzling urbanites seem to know it, possibly recalling dim memories of summer camps gone by, or of a fancy Alice Waters salad they might have enjoyed at Chez Panisse back in 1989 or something. In gourmet circles, miner’s lettuce has become a commonplace, an afterthought. It is the iceberg lettuce of wild foods.

Photo by Hank Shaw
Photo by Hank Shaw

Undeservedly so. Miner’s lettuce is pleasingly crunchy, mild-tasting, has large leaves, remains tender even when in flower, and is so loaded with vitamins it will cure scurvy. The plant got its name because the Gold Rush miners ate it to stave off the disease, which is caused by a Vitamin C deficiency; they learned this trick from the local Indians, no doubt.

According to a study in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 100 grams of miner’s lettuce — about the size of a decent salad — contains a third of your daily requirement of Vitamin C, 22 percent of the Vitamin A, and 10 percent of the iron.

Combine this with stinging nettles and you have everything you need to revive your system from a winter’s worth of heavy meats, dried grains and roots.

All of these qualities impressed early explorers so much they saved the seeds of Claytonia perfoliata and brought them back to Europe to grow, first as a curiosity, then as a food plant.

Many sources say this happened in 1749, but I have never found any reference to any original source of this date, which I think is a transposition of the real date the plant reached Europe.

According to Hortus Kewensis, an 1811 catalog of everything growing in England’s famous Kew Gardens, the great Scots naturalist Archibald Menzies discovered miner’s lettuce on the West Coast of America in 1794, not 1749, and he brought seeds back to Kew, where it flourished.

I took a look at Menzies’ journal of the expedition — he was with George Vancouver on Vancouver’s famous round-the-world voyage — and it appears that Menzies actually found the plant along Puget Sound, in current-day Washington, on May 7, 1792:

A little before won the Fog dispersd… we walkd along shore… In this walk I found growing in the Crevices of a small rock about midway between the two points a new Species of Claytonia [a small flowering herb] & as I met with it no where else in my journeys, it must be considerd as a rare plant in this country. I namd it Claytonia furcata & took a rough sketch of it which may be seen in my collections of Drawings.

It is not exactly clear whether this is miner’s lettuce or not, but this is Menzies’ only mention of claytonia in the journals he kept on the voyage, and there are any number of accounts published before 1820 that mark this as the plant’s European provenance.

Miner’s lettuce was so important as a source of Vitamin C that the British planted it in Cuba and, later, in Australia. An early 19th century article I found notes that miner’s lettuce was already well-established in Cuba by 1811, and that it was “spontaneously growing” in the Botanical Gardens of Paris. By mid-century it was being sold by seedsmen as a salad green and potherb — and was rapidly becoming a weed in England.

This is a rare thing. Nearly all our edible household weeds are of European origin: dandelion, plantain, most thistles, chickweed, purslane, mallow, cat’s ear, garlic mustard, shepherd’s purse. For our very own miner’s lettuce to be brought back to Europe, and for it to become a widespread edible weed, is almost unprecedented.

What’s more, miner’s lettuce is one of the very few foods native to North America that we commonly eat.

Think about it: How much of the food in your pantry is native to this place? Wild rice, turkey, cranberries, jerusalem artichokes for sure. Chiles and some squash and beans can qualify, but they are more Central American. Let’s face it, when it comes to the salad course, miner’s lettuce is the king of our indigenous cuisine.

Why it hasn’t become part of our standard “salad mix” is beyond me. It’s ridiculously easy to grow, loves moist shade, and you can buy miner’s lettuce seeds pretty much anywhere. I am growing some this spring, and, like my wild arugula, will be happy to have this little plant colonize my yard.

Miner\'s lettuce
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

So far as eating miner’s lettuce is concerned, there is really no reason to stray beyond the salad.

This is how most of us enjoy it today, and it’s how the Native Americans ate the plant — although I think I’ll skip the trick performed by a few tribes that lived around Auburn, California: They would apparently strew miner’s lettuce leaves along the highways of a particular kind of ant, which would then excrete something acidic (formic acid, maybe?) on the leaves, flavoring them like vinegar. Weird, eh? I think I’ll stick to vinaigrette.

Normally I mix greens to create certain flavors and textures, but sometimes I prefer to eat miner’s lettuce solo. You really get to know a green when you do this, and you don’t want to dress such a salad too heavily; just a light coating is all.

I made a light mustard vinaigrette for the dressing, and added some fresh ground black pepper and a little flake salt for texture and crunch. The effect is tart, smooth, a little crunchy, and very “green” tasting. Miner’s lettuce is also known as winter purslane (they’re both in the portulaca family) and if you have ever eaten regular summer purslane, you can appreciate the succulent texture of this plant.

For those of you who live anywhere from British Columbia east to the Great Plains, you can find miner’s lettuce, and its various claytonia cousins, in shady, moist spots in spring. According to the USDA, miner’s lettuce has naturalized in a few places east of the Plains, notably Ohio, Georgia and New Hampshire. Pick from February to May, but you will need to find deeper, cooler, places the later you go.

The best leaves grow under trees. Miner’s lettuce is perfectly fine when in flower — unlike most spring greens — but pick before the flower stalk gets too long. Once picked, miner’s lettuce leaves will last in a plastic bag in the fridge for 3 to 5 days without too much loss of quality. Keep a damp paper towel in the bag to keep everything nice and fresh.

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About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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51 Comments

  1. I have Miner’s Lettuce seeds that I got from Baker Creek Seeds and I am looking for the best spots in my edible landscape to sow them. I’ve noticed that they love shade and seek out north and west aspects to grow. As for harvesting in the city, I look for yards where it is obvious there is no spraying (they have lots of “weeds”), then I talk to the people living there and make sure there is no spraying, then I ask them if I can harvest their weeds. I can get all the Miner’s Lettuce and Purslane (a close cousin that loves heat, drought, and poor soil) I want within walking distance of my house! Don’t be afraid to talk to people about harvesting their weeds. You would be amazed at the wonderful conversations you’ll have and the eyes you’ll open.

  2. Is anyone concerned about the oxylates that, I read, may accumulate in the leaves and become toxic?? Thanks

  3. Caution: miners lettuce contains oxylates,(oxalic acid),so if kidney problems like stones,or arthritis,eat in moderation,same as spinach.The plant contains vitamin C but not in extraordinary amounts & varies according to soil conditions,etc. Average daily amounts of vit.C varies by country from 40mgs-100mgs.In the above “100gm” amount,it would be difficult to determine the mg. amount of vit-C,however,in emergency,i.e.,scurvy,it’s moot. My 2-cents! Cheers!

  4. I just noticed a nice patch of miner’s lettuce on our lower road. We are harvesting it tomorrow morning.

  5. Went for a hike a couple weeks ago here in Northern CA – coast to redwoods and found lots of Miner’s lettuce. The kids love to munch on it while we hike. I snagged a few and brought them home and planted it in a pot. It’s starting to flower! I want to plant it in my yard but need to gather some seeds first. I understand it is a winter annual that dries up in the summer? I may plant it in the fall.

  6. I grew up snacking on this when we’d move cattle. We always stopped at springs to water the cows at the troughs there, and miner’s lettuce grew all around the (fenced) actual spring. Living in Montana, I grow it not only because it’s tasty, but because it’s cold hardy!

  7. I am thinking of using those beautiful long stems for stir fries…..almost like noodles but not.

    I have about 60 sq ft of miner’s lettuce, beautifully green in my side yard, not sprayed as my guy knows to leave that bed alone entirely.

    We’re going to be 100% completely and totally scurvy free at my house.

  8. Just had mine with some scrambled eggs. Of course the chickens have been eating it for a couple of weeks now. If only I still had that amazing Mangalista bacon, life would be complete.

  9. The other thing I love about it is that it’s superbly cold-tolerant; I can keep it going under hoops deep into the winter. Not that you Californians need to know of such horrors.

  10. never even heard of it…probably because I’m stuck on the East Coast :(. We’ve got shore greens a-plenty, but no miner’s lettuce…maybe I can figure out where in NH it’s growing, because I’d really like to try it !

  11. Jessa: Did you just write “nutritional yeast/soy/garlic dressing” ?? Hippie. 😉 And yes, you blanch the miner’s lettuce first – gasp in horror at how much it reduces – then squeeze out as much lquid as you can before vacuum sealing. Don’t bother. Do this with nettles instead.

    FatStupidAmerican: Best screen name ever…

    Carmen: LOL! I picked my miner’s lettuce less than 500 yards from that trail!

    Cork: I’d stay away from manicured areas. Look fora patch that is tucked away somewhere, or off on a trail somewhere. Landscapers hate claytonia and will often spray it.

  12. With all this water, there’re tons of this stuff in a school field in which I train Ziggy. Can I wash the likely pesticide and other chemicals off the miner’s lettuce to eat it–or just too much risk?

  13. I love that you’re sharing the secrets of nature walks and the bounty of edible wild plants with a fun post and beautiful pictures. The overlook trails off Hazel looking over the dam are perfect at this time of year for claytonia, as well as Slab Creek/El Dorado area (though they’ll have snow tomorrow!).

  14. Hello from the 916!

    I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now and I was starting to wonder if you were in my part of Cali.

  15. The roommate brought home a giant bag of miner’s lettuce he’d collected from his work the other day and we’ve been munching it all week! Certainly one of my favorite spring greens (and yes, the first wild edible I learned to identify as a kid). It’s great with a quick nutritional yeast/soy/garlic dressing, too.

    I think this year I’d like to try to freeze some for later use in soups and quiches (taking the place of frozen spinach). Maybe even use them in a spanakopita. Have you ever tried this? I assume that it would hold up well, being of a similar texture.

  16. What’s with all this worry about spraying? You’re not collecting miner’s lettuce on roadsides, are you? Claytonia is a deep woods plant, far from pesticides. And while you can find them along trails, no one sprays trails in the woods. So long as you are at least 100 feet from a roadside or conventional farm field, have at it.

  17. How do you know this has not been sprayed/contaminated. It is my constant thought.

  18. I saw some while I was reading meters yesterday. My grandpa taught me to eat this one too, but who knows where the guys have been spraying, so I abstained. The chickens don’t leave us any of this in my own yard, although there’s plenty of mallow and stinging nettle. Those belong to the goats.