Cress is one of the versatile herbs that are used in the kitchen for many dishes. It contains many healthy ingredients and should only be eaten raw so that the vitamins are not destroyed.

How do cress and garden cress taste?

Cress contains mustard oil. This makes the leaves taste slightly spicy. Depending on the variety, the aroma is reminiscent of mustard or radishes. Cress gives dishes a spicy taste and spices up many a boring salad.

Consume as fresh as possible

Cress doesn't last long once cut. Therefore, only ever harvest as much cress as you can use immediately.

You should only wash cress in an emergency. The water makes the leaves limp and leaches out. As a result, they lose their aroma and taste watery.

If you have to wash them, run them under a gentle stream of water and then dry them thoroughly.

Cress is used particularly often as:

  • salad
  • curd ingredient
  • buttered bread topping
  • soup garnish
  • cress butter
  • cress oil
  • Pesto
  • vegetable seasoning

If possible, do not let the cress cook, as the heat will cause many of the ingredients, especially the heat-sensitive vitamins, to be lost.

If the cress has already blossomed when harvested, the leaves will become tart and somewhat leathery. In this case, you can briefly cook the cress and serve it warm as a cress soup.

Since cress is difficult to store, process large harvests into cress butter or cress oil. You should never dry cress, as it then hardly has any aroma. Freezing is a stopgap, but better avoided.

cress sprouts

Cress sprouts have a particularly large number of vitamins. They are sprinkled raw over the dishes and also taste delicious on bread and butter.

cress flowers

The flowers of the garden cress are edible, but do not have a particularly good aroma.

An exception are the flowers of the nasturtium. They are very decorative and cut a fine figure on soups, salads or vegetable platters. Their taste is slightly aromatic.

tips and tricks

Cress is used in natural medicine for many ailments. Cress is said to be very helpful in case of loss of appetite. The ingredients are even said to be effective as a natural antibiotic.

Category:

Vegetable garden