Eruca sativa
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(Redirected from Arugula)
| Eruca sativa | |
|---|---|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Rosids |
| Order: | Brassicales |
| Family: | Brassicaceae |
| Genus: | Eruca |
| Species: | E. sativa |
| Binomial name | |
| Eruca sativa Mill. | |
Eruca sativa (syn. E. vesicaria subsp. sativa (Miller) Thell., Brassica eruca L.), is an edible annual plant, commonly known as salad rocket, roquette,rucola, rugula, colewort; or, in the United States, where it is very popular, arugula. Salad rocket (arugula) is sometimes conflated with Diplotaxis tenuifolia, the perennial wall rocket, another plant of the Brassicaceae family, which in the past was used in the same manner. Salad rocket is a species of Eruca native to the Mediterranean region, from Morocco and Portugal in the west to Lebanon and Turkey in the east.[1][2] Eruca sativa differs from E. vesicaria in having early deciduous sepals.[3] Some botanists consider it a subspecies of Eruca vesicaria: E. vesicaria subsp. sativa.[3] Still others do not differentiate between the two.[4] The Latin adjective sativa in the plant's binomial is derived from satum, the supine of the verb sero,[5] meaning "to sow", indicating that the seeds of the plant were sown in gardens.
Salad rocket grows 20–100 centimetres (8–39 in) in height. The leaves are deeply pinnately lobed with four to ten small lateral lobes and a large terminal lobe. The flowers are 2–4 cm (0.8–1.6 in) in diameter, arranged in a corymb in typicalBrassicaceae fashion; with creamy white petals veined with purple, and with yellow stamens; the sepals are shed soon after the flower opens. The fruit is a siliqua (pod) 12–35 millimetres (0.5–1.4 in) long with an apical beak, and containing several seeds (which are edible). The species has a chromosome number of 2n = 22.[2][3][6]
Vernacular names include salad rocket,[7] garden rocket,[3] or simply rocket (British, Australian, Canadian, South African and New Zealand English),[2] eruca,[2] and arugula (American English). All names ultimately derive from the Latin word eruca, a name for an unspecified plant in the family Brassicaceae, probably a type of cabbage.[8]
Ecology
Salad rocket typically grows on dry, disturbed ground[2][3] and is also used as a food by the larvae of some moth species, including the Garden Carpet moth.
[edit]Cultivation and history
Salad rocket looks like a longer-leaved and open lettuce and is eaten raw, in salads with oil and vinegar, or as a garnish, as well as cooked as a leafy green vegetable. It is rich in vitamin C and potassium.[9] In addition to the leaves, the flowers (often used in salads as an edible garnish), young seed pods, and mature seeds are all edible.
Grown as an edible herb in the Mediterranean area since Roman times, salad rocket was mentioned by various classical authors as anaphrodisiac,[10][11] most famously in a poem long ascribed to Virgil, Moretum, which contains the line: "et veneris revocans eruca morantuem" ("the rocket excites the sexual desire of drowsy people").[12] Some writers assert that for this reason during the Middle Ages it was forbidden to grow rocket in monasteries.[13] It was listed, however, in a decree by Charlemagne of 802 as one of the pot herbs suitable for growing in gardens.[14] Gillian Reilly, author of the Oxford Companion to Italian Food, states that because of its reputation as a sexual stimulant, it was "prudently mixed with lettuce, which was the opposite" (i.e., calming or even soporific). Reilly continues that "nowadays rocket is enjoyed innocently in mixed salads, to which it adds a pleasing pungency".[15]
Salad rocket was traditionally collected in the wild or grown in home gardens along with such herbs as parsley and basil. It is now grown commercially from the Veneto in Italy to Iowa in theUnited States to Brazil and is available for purchase in supermarkets and farmers' markets throughout the world. It is also naturalised as a wild plant away from its native range in temperate regions around the world, including northern Europe and North America.[2][7] In India, the mature seeds are known as Gargeer.
Before the 1980s salad rocket was comparatively little known in the English-speaking world outside of immigrant Italian communities and among devotees of Italian cooking, but by 2006 the green had become a marker for culinary sophistication, upward mobility, multiculturalism, and even elitism. Vanity Fair writer and editor David Kamp gave his book about the spread of American mass-media culinary sophistication the prophetic title: The United States of Arugula: How We Became a Gourmet Nation (Clarkson Potter, 2006). Two years later, then-presidential candidate Barack Obama became associated with arugula:
In 2008, when US presidential candidate Barack Obama mentioned arugula during a speech to some Iowa farmers, he was criticized by the press as a "cultural elitist," though in truth the debate prompted the press to say that all the candidates were "elitist" in this respect. The Economist went so far as to brand Obama's Democratic supporters as "wine drinkers" and Hillary Clinton's as "beer drinkers," while emphasizing that the lifestyle of the latter bore little resemblance to those of her supposed constituency.[16]
Obama's conservative political opponents claimed that arugula was unknown in Iowa. They were countered, however, by the progressive media watchdog site Media Matters For America which listed an array of Iowa farms and markets where it could be found:
In fact, arugula is grown by local farms in Iowa and is widely available in stores throughout the state, including Cleverly Farms in Mingo, Iowa, and Mariposa Farms in Grinnell, Iowa. Moreover, vendors at numerous farmers markets, including the Davenport Farmer's Market and the Ames Farmers' Market, sell arugula directly from farms to consumers. Several Iowa grocery stores also carry arugula; the website of Hy-Vee, a large grocery chain headquartered in, and with four stores in, West Des Moines, Iowa – approximately 22 miles from Adel, Iowa, where Obama made his arugula remark – offers tips on cleaning and serving arugula, as well as several recipes featuring it. Furthermore, a Media Matters for America search of the Nexis database returned several articles from The Des Moines Register that reported the production and use of arugula in Iowa.[17]
[edit]Uses
Salad rocket has a rich, peppery taste and an exceptionally pungent flavor for a leafy green. It is frequently used in salads, often mixed with other greens in a mesclun. It is also used raw withpasta or meats in northern Italy and in western Slovenia (especially in the Slovenian Istria). In Italy, raw rocket is often added to pizzas just before the baking period ends or immediately afterwards, so that it will not wilt in the heat. It is also used cooked in Puglia, in Southern Italy, to make the pasta dish cavatiéddi, "in which large amounts of coarsely chopped rocket are added to pasta seasoned with a homemade reduced tomato sauce and pecorino",[18] as well as in "many unpretentious recipes in which it is added, chopped, to sauces and cooked dishes" or in a sauce (made by frying it in olive oil and garlic) used a condiment for cold meats and fish.[18] In the Slovenian Littoral, it is often combined with boiled potatoes,[19] used in a soup,[20] or served with the cheese burek, especially in the town of Koper.
A sweet, peppery digestive alcohol called rucolino is made from arugula on the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples. This liqueur is a local specialty enjoyed in small quantities following a meal in the same way as a limoncello or grappa.
In Brazil, where its use is widespread, arugula is eaten raw in salads. A popular combination is arugula mixed with mozzarella cheese (normally made out of buffalo milk) and sun-dried tomatoes.
In Egypt the plant is commonly eaten with ful medames for breakfast, and regularly accompanies local seafood dishes.
In West Asia and Northern India, arugula seeds are pressed to make taramira oil, used in pickling and (after aging to remove acridity) as a salad or cooking oil.[21] The seed cake is also used as animal feed.[22]
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