Watercress belongs to the brassica clan, which includes cabbage and mustard in its ranks – so perhaps it’s not surprise that these salad leaves sock a peppery punch. Its botanical name Nasturtium officinale means ‘wrinkled nose’! Despite this inauspicious name, watercress’s potent flavour has been prized for centuries.
Historically there were two types of watercress – bronze and green. During the Victorian era, the bronze-coloured variety, which was capable of withstanding cold winters, was available through the autumn to early spring. There was also a more delicate green variety which grew from spring to early autumn.
Unfortunately, bronze watercress succumbed to a plant disease known as club root, and commercial production of this variety died out in the mid twentieth century.
“We grow green watercress now,” explains Tom Amery, managing director of The Watercress Company. “This variety produces seeds so we can grow fresh crops at least once a year. We harvest the beds five times between May and October. At our peak in July and August we produce 40-50 tonnes of watercress.”
The Watercress Company grow across multiple small, traditional watercress farms, where cress has been grown since the 1850s. Several of their farms are in Hampshire – an area that has always had a strong association with watercress, because it is situated in a chalk basin that provides a supply of crystal-clear spring water containing the essential minerals required by the plant.
The chalk spring water emerges at a constant temperature of around 11 degrees, all year. This helps to protect the crop during the winter and cool it in the heat of the summer.
Watercress can still be found growing wild in running water today. We think The Watercress Company’s beautiful leaves are the next best thing: grown with many years of expertise for the best natural flavour, and delivered as fresh as can be.
