watercress

years ago when i was on a summer bush walk i came across watercress growing at the junction of the shaded side of the path and a small slow trickling stream..i picked a few sprigs and wrapped them carefully in a damp piece of paper to preserve them with a view to growing them at home..we didn't eat any of it at the time because it's not advisable to eat watercress that's been growing in an area of potential contamination..the sprigs of cress were a bit wilted when i eventually got home at about midnight but i popped them in a glass of water hoping that they'd resurrect..i was really happy to see the sprigs develop root filaments after about a week and so i planted them in a pot and because cress likes indirect sun i placed them on the southerly side of my garden..there were times over the years through a combination of neglect and hot weather that i thought i'd lost it but fortunately it's a prolific seeder and so it would always reappear..it's now growing better than ever in my new garden..once again it's in a southerly position but it's planted directly into a garden bed and in an area that receives a lot of rain and run off from a disconnected down pipe..having such a prolific amount of cress growing led me to read up about it recently and to my surprise i learned that it's a particularly nutrient dense green..as a result i've been thinking up ways to incorporate it into more meals..one of the things i've been making a lot is watercress pesto which like other pestos is really versatile..

i have about 2 m x 2 m of watercress growing

lots of well washed watercress, toasted pine nuts, garlic and parmesan
processed with olive oil until it forms a paste

further reading:

http://www.watercress.com/history.aspx (history of watercress)
http://www.thewatercresscompany.co.uk/superfood.php (nutritional content of watercress)
http://www.watercress.com/pdf/pot_health_benefits_of_WC_09.pdf (potential health benefits of watercress
http://watercress.co.uk/recipes/ (watercress recipes)