Chaotian Zengjia Mountain Lettuce

Last updated 2026-11-15 — Chaotian Zengjia Mountain Lettuce features emerald green, crisp, tender, and juicy flesh with minimal fiber. It has thick stems, thin skin, is not hollow, offers a high edible rate, boasts a rich aroma, and contains low levels of nitrite. With its unique flavor and excellent quality, the cultivation of Chaotian Zengjia Mountain Lettuce can be traced back to the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. According to the Guangyuan County Annals from the Qing Dynasty, there were already over 40 varieties of vegetables planted at that time. Due to the natural environment and climate of Chaotian Zengjia Mountain being highly suitable for lettuce growth, local farmers widely cultivated it. By the time of liberation, the planting scale and cultivation techniques of lettuce in Chaotian Zengjia Mountain had seen significant development. After the reform and opening-up, with the increase in urban population and improvement in living standards, the demand for vegetables grew steadily. Lettuce, as a key vegetable supplied during the spring off-season, became increasingly prominent, and market demand continued to expand. To further develop vegetable production and protect and utilize local vegetable variety resources, the Guangyuan Vegetable Office organized agricultural departments to survey local vegetable varieties, and included Chaotian Zengjia Mountain Lettuce as an outstanding local vegetable variety in the "Guangyuan Vegetable Resource Variety Register." In the early 1990s, to further promote the production of Chaotian Zengjia Mountain Lettuce, the government and relevant departments carried out systematic selection and purification of the crop. A superior mutant plant was discovered in Zengjia Mountain, and after years of systematic breeding, the excellent variety “Zengjia Mountain No. 1” was developed. By the early 21st century, the cultivation of Chaotian Zengjia Mountain Lettuce had become one of the leading industries for increasing agricultural efficiency and farmers’ income, with planting area exceeding 70,000 mu and output value surpassing 100 million yuan.