Pirat is a type of butterhead lettuce can be a great addition to the garden, and a welcome addition to any salad.
It’s a German variety that has a sweet mild flavor and a beautiful appearance.
You just can’t help but marvel at the gently twisted leaves with their beautiful rose tints.
I enjoy growing this lettuce because of it’s shape, color and curvy appearance.
It is also has a very soft and pleasant taste, so it’s very pleasing in a salad.
That’s why it makes my list of best vegetables.
You can harvest this lettuce as a head or one leaf at a time. One leaf at a time isn’t as convenient as a romaine type lettuce since it likes to form a compact head, but it isn’t difficult either.
Harvesting a larger head lets you to enjoy the beauty of this multi-colored lettuce as it becomes mature.
It also allows you to slice it down the middle and serve butterhead lettuce halves in a bowl with the cut side up, laced with a nice light Italian dressing.
Now, that’s how I enjoy butterhead lettuce. I think you’ll enjoy it that way too.
If you let Pirat get rather large, it can become bitter, so start harvesting the leaves as soon as they’re big enough to use, and harvest the whole head when it gets to be the size of a baseball.
One of the nice features of this lettuce is how it lays down the first outer leaves on the surface of the soil.
That keeps the rest of the lettuce head up off the soil for a cleaner harvest.
If you grow this variety outdoors, you need to be mindful that soil splashing on it will naturally find its way into the nooks and crannies of this gently crinkled variety.