How do cress and garden cress taste?
Cress contains mustard oil. This makes the leaves taste slightly hot. The aroma is reminiscent of mustard or radish, depending on the variety. Cress gives the food a spicy taste and spices up many a boring salad.
also read
- Cress - the easy-care herb
- The flowers of the cress are also edible
- Cress is not suitable for drying
Consume as fresh as possible
Cress doesn't last long once it's cut. You should therefore only harvest as much cress as you can use immediately.
You should only wash cress in an emergency. The leaves become limp and leach out from the water. As a result, they lose their aroma and taste watery.
If it is necessary to wash it, hold it under a gentle stream of water and then dry it well.
Cress is particularly commonly used as:
- salad
- Quark ingredient
- Sandwich topping
- Soup insert
- Cress butter
- Cress oil
- Pesto
- Vegetable seasoning
If possible, do not let the cress cook with it, as many ingredients, especially the heat-sensitive vitamins, are lost due to the heat.
If the cress has already set flowers at harvest, the leaves will be tart and somewhat leathery. In this case, you can cook the cress briefly and serve warm as a cress soup.
Since cress is difficult to store, use large harvests to make cress butter or cress oil. You should never dry cress as it hardly has any aroma. Freezing is an emergency solution, but it is better to avoid it.
Cress sprouts
Cress sprouts are particularly rich in vitamins. They are sprinkled raw over the food and also taste very tasty on bread and butter.
Cress flowers
The flowers of the garden cress are edible, but do not have a particularly good aroma.
The flowers of the nasturtium are an exception. They are very decorative and look good on soups, salads or vegetable platters. Their taste is slightly aromatic.
Tips & Tricks
Cress is used in natural medicine for many ailments. If you have a loss of appetite, cress is said to be very helpful. The ingredients are even said to be effective as a natural antibiotic.
