Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Corn salad in full bloom
CULTIVATION HISTORY
Native to Eurasia, corn salad can be found in vineyards and similar habitats
and was originally foraged. It is one of the few crop plants that was domesticated in Europe: it presum-
ably arrived in central Europe in the late Neolithic period via grain seed, was sown with the grain, then
thrived after the grain harvest, like an intentionally undersown crop. All through the Greek and Roman
empires and Middle Ages, there is no evidence of its intentional cultivation. It was not until around
1700 that selective breeding of cultivated varieties began in gardens. Around the turn of the 20th cen-
tury, corn salad began to be grown as a cash crop. Today, it can still be harvested “wild” from fields,
though only from those where no mineral fertilizer is found: fallow grounds, vineyards, and organic
gardens and farms.
