- The private harvest of watercress
- How do you use watercress?
- Health benefits of watercress
- tips and tricks
In professional cultivation, watercress is usually harvested in the winter months; the season begins in September and ends in May with the start of flowering. Since the watercress is quite sensitive to pressure, it is cut by hand.
Some farms also use a scythe for harvesting. The shoots are cut off about 10 to 15 cm long and bundled according to weight. The weight varies between 70 and 120 grams depending on the customer.
The private harvest of watercress
If you have watercress in your garden, you can also harvest it from September. Regular pruning keeps the plant sprouting again and again, so there are shoots ready for harvest even during the summer and you always have fresh watercress available.
Cut young, tender shoots about 5 - 7 cm long, they taste particularly delicious. Be careful not to accidentally pull out the roots and do not prune the entire plant. This gives the herb the opportunity to recover quickly and sprout again, and you can soon start harvesting again.
How do you use watercress?
Watercress has many uses. It was even a staple food in 19th-century England. You can eat watercress both raw and cooked. The easiest use is to sprinkle the chopped cabbage on a sandwich or mix it into a salad. Watercress can also be prepared like spinach as a vegetable. Their hot and spicy taste also goes very well with eggs.
Processing tips for watercress:
- traditionally chopped on buttered bread
- as a salad addition
- like spinach as a vegetable
- with poached egg on toast
Health benefits of watercress
Watercress is very rich in vitamins and minerals and therefore very healthy. It has a diuretic, blood-forming and appetite-stimulating effect. For these reasons, it is often used for spring cures and for detoxification, but also against rheumatism and kidney problems. Because watercress is also a labor stimulant, it should be consumed with caution during pregnancy.
tips and tricks
If you have a sensitive stomach, allowing the chopped watercress to air out for a few minutes before eating or processing will make it a little easier to digest.
UE