Why Hampshire is ‘King of the Watercress!’

Watercress is Hampshire’s best-sold crop, easily cooked, so only add at in the last few minutes for recipes. Also popular in Dorset, it was first eaten by the Romans and was an ingredient in the first sandwich!

Watercress has a peppery taste (similar to mustard). Try this Try this 15-minute watercress soup (Salted Mint).

Before cooking, read up on food safety for people & pets (watercress is high in vitamin K so should be avoided for some medications). If growing your own, use no-dig methods to protect wildlife and read our post on pet-friendly gardens.

One bag of watercress is sold each second in England. It’s been popular since Roman times, when it was thought to cure everything from baldness to insanity. Or just to freshen breath.

Best enjoyed from April to September, choose strong green leaves for freshness and only wash and shake dry before use. Store in the fridge (ideally in water) and eat within a couple of days.

You can recycle soft plastic packaging at supermarket bag bins, if your kerbside does not recycle.

A former watercress farm near Chichester, is set to become a glamping site. The owners plan to let tourists help themselves, and remaining beds will be turned into wildlife ponds.

Free Watercress on the NHS?

The founder of England’s largest watercress farm eats it each day, as does his family. He’s so passionate about the crop, he arranges a watercress festival in the village of Alresford.

The company is also trialling ‘free watercress soup’ at an NHS hospital,. This could use up 90,000kg of winter watercress that would otherwise go to waste,  and serve nutritious tasty food to patients.

M & S were recently criticised for selling a ‘posh’ egg cress sandwich for £6. Boasting it contained ‘a whole sliced egg, fresh baby watercress and luxury mayonnaise in two slices of bread.’

It did not take long for social media comments to come through like ‘this country is finished’ and that ‘the word posh costs you 3 quid’.

President Trump Not Impressed with ‘Local Food’

When President Trump recently visited England for a state visit, the immense banquet (which Lib Dem leader Ed Davey didn’t attend, as he thought it was in poor taste with people starving in Gaza) included Hampshire watercress, along with poached Victoria plums.

Apparently on the flight home, the fast food addict (whose favourite food is Filet-o-Fish) said ‘Whatever the hell they served, I don’t know’. Teetotal, he also was not impressed by offerings of organic cognac, likely wondering where his usual diet coke was.