How Is Watercress Used in the Kitchen?

Watercress is used as an herb for soups, potatoes, quark, to refine salads, or as an additional topping on sandwiches. Its taste can be compared to that of radish: the watercress has a strong, tart taste with a slightly spicy note of mustard. While the aromatic and medicinal plant is used more frequently in the kitchen in France, Belgium, and England, watercress has so far been little used in Germany.

Watercress gives a salad a special flavor with its radish-like taste. The cress tastes good in combination with sour fruits such as apples, oranges, lemons, or tangerines. Chopped into small pieces, it enhances herb quark and a cream cheese dip or cream cheese, or can be spread over freshly prepared potatoes as a vitamin-rich seasoning. Watercress can also be combined well with vegetables. It harmonises in taste with tomatoes, onions, or chili. As a topping for bread, watercress complements mild high-fat spreads such as cheese or butter. Serve with an omelet or with an egg on toast, the spicy herb can be part of a tasty snack.

Watercress is rarely commercially available, but grows wild around the edges of ponds, springs, and streams of nutrient-rich water. The plant can be recognized by its rounded, dark green, fleshy leaves that are attached to long leafless stalks. If watercress is used for culinary purposes, it is usually eaten raw in order to preserve the vitamins and minerals it contains. In principle, the cress can be prepared as a soup or puree, but it can also be blanched or cooked like spinach. Fresh watercress contains slightly more vitamin C than lemons (lemons contain 51 mg and fresh watercress 62 mg per 100 grams). It also provides a lot of beta-carotene, a precursor of vitamin A.

If you want to use a watercress in the kitchen, you should make sure that you only pick the plant from clean water. If possible, transport watercress moist or in water and store the plant in the same way: This will preserve the aroma. Wash the herb very thoroughly before preparation. Pay special attention to insect larvae and eggs that may be sitting on the leaves.