- Dried cress has hardly any aroma
- Too much watercress in the garden?
- Store dried cress safely
- Alternatives to drying cress
Cress, whether grown as watercress in the garden or as garden cress on the windowsill, is not suitable for drying. It is better to only sow or buy as much cress as you can use up in a short time.
Dried cress has hardly any aroma
Cress is one of those herbs that is difficult to store by drying or freezing.
As the leaves dry, they lose their flavor with the water. The vitamins are lost, so that dried cress is no longer suitable as a herb.
Too much watercress in the garden?
Watercress grows slightly taller than regular garden cress. However, drying is not necessarily the best way to preserve the leaves.
If you want to give it a try, harvest the herbs in the morning when the leaves are completely dry. The proportion of essential oils is then highest.
Cut the stems just above the ground and tie them into small bundles. Hang them in an airy place out of direct sunlight.
Store dried cress safely
When the cress has dried, pluck the leaves from the stems and place them in an airtight, screw-top brown or green glass jar.
Check the glass regularly for mold growth.
Alternatives to drying cress
- Only sow small amounts of cress
- Serve in a salad or quark
- cook cress soup
- Giving away to the neighbors
You can grow cress on the windowsill all year round or buy it early in the supermarket. It is therefore not worth drying cress.
If you have harvested too much cress, you can alternatively mix it with other fresh herbs and put it in oil.
Or try a cress soup. For this you need a lot of fresh herb, which you can cook very briefly in the liquid.
If you have sown too much nasturtium, simply let it grow until it develops flowers and later infructescence. As long as the fruits are still green, you can use them as a wonderful substitute for capers. If the fruits have dried, sow them again next year.
The garden journal freshness ABC
How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?
The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:
- as a free PDF file to print out yourself