Small bunches of this peppery green can be found in the aisles of your local market or grocer's. But did you know you can go straight to the source and find watercress in natural springs and streams, too?
Wild watercress (Nasturtium microphyllum) grows near natural water sources like springs and streams. The little green leaves are a highly nutritious food, with antioxidant properties and rich in vitamins B1, B2, B6, C, E, calcium, fiber, iron and potassium. If you're interested in locating some to harvest yourself, keep in mind these tips:
- The time to forage for wild watercress is spring to early summer.
- Seek out colonies in locations that you know are clean. Avoid places that could be contaminated by industrial or agricultural runoff.
- Break off below the leaf instead of pulling out by the roots, leaving the watercress to grow again as a future source for others.
- Wash it well before use.
- Use your wild finds in a cooked preparation to be perfectly safe.
We're more accustomed to watercress in its raw state in salads and as garnish on meat and the like. So, below are a few cooked watercress ideas we gathered together as incentive to get out and find some wild watercress of our own:
Related: What's the Deal with Watercress?
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Thank you for the Watercress Soup recipe! Reminds me of reading Brian Jacques's Redwall when I was little. Definitely going to make a batch this week!
I had no idea! I've been really into watercress in sandwiches, salads, and pastas. I did just find out how ridiculously healthful it is.
regina, do you really thing anyone would ever pluck something from a stream & eat it?? maybe i'm just a hard core city girl, but i can't imagine anyone doing that. unless they were out of choices.
When I was young, my parents would drag me and the siblings up the hill and way into the woods beyond my grandma's house to pick watercress growing in streams.
I don't even remember how my mom or grandma prepared it, but I remember not caring for hiking into the woods and getting my Keds wet to pick lettuce-y looking stuff!
This was in western PA, way out in the country, so I think the watercress we picked was pretty safe to eat!
yum. I think I was "trained" to enjoy watercress. Growing up my Grandma would put watercress in our tea-time cheese sandwiches. Of course, now, I couldn't live without it.
Watercress can be foraged but as you mentioned, make sure the water source is clean. I know that there is some sort of liver nematode that can be picked up from raw wild watercress. As far as I know, cooking the cress will kill the nasty bugger. Not sure how common it is, just something that I came across in my research.
I just picked up some spring-fed watercress at the Green City Market in Chicago. Oriana, the paw paw lady, planted a spring that runs through her land with this watercress. I made a soup (cooked) with the watercress and some spring garlic, also from her property. It's a great soup hot or cold.
I need to find a growing plant..I want to put some in my watergarden
@sturgeongeneral - Brian Jacques' Red Wall series is what got me started eating veggies as a young'un! I love those books. So many amazing food descriptions. :)
I love to make Watercress Soup!