17½ Growing cress (rzeżucha)

Growing your own herbs doesn’t necessarily require a lot of effort. Try cress, super healthy bit of spring in your kitchen!


Cress (Lepidium sativum), sometimes also called garden cress is a rather fast-growing edible herb. Genetically related to watercress and mustard, garden cress is a tasty addition to any diet. Usually eaten raw, as an addition to sandwiches, salads, eggs or soup. Its slightly peppery, tangy flavour will surely enrich every boring salad!

This tiny, modest plant is very rich in nutrients and low in calories (only 32 calories in 100g!). Garden cress is especially rich in vitamin K, vitamin A and manganese to mention a few. And you can grow it at home easily, too! Normally, it takes about 1 week for it to grow.

Cress (and young oat for that matter) are traditionally sewn before Easter in Poland. The sugar or doughy lamb is then placed on the so-called łączka (little meadow), and it becomes a centrepiece of the Easter table. Cress (in Polish under the lovely name rzeżucha) is usually planted 7 days before Easter, which should give it enough time to stand proud and tall for Easter.

Below, how i always used to (and still do!) grow cress at home. Thanks Mum, for teaching me the tricks ^^

WHAT WE NEED?

Image

cress seeds
cotton wool
bowl
plate

HOW TO MAKE?

1. First, place the bowl on the plate, upside-down.

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2. Then, cover the bowl with cotton wool.

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3. Now, pour some water on it.

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4. When it’s already wet, sprinkle cress seeds.

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5. It should look like that, more or less ^^

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Usually, it takes 5-7 days to grow garden cress. Place it somewhere warm and make sure that you water it regularly – don’t ever let the cotton wool dry out. You should check up on your cress everyday, give it some love!  When the sprouts have reached about 2,5cm, they are ready to eat.

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My garden cress baby, only 3 days old! 
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Aren’t they sweet? 
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And now, compare the progress!

Happy Easter lovely people!

And happy growing!
aho

  1. Zdrowe jedzenie ,do kanapek

    Reply

  2. This is a great technique! Thanks for sharing. Cheers – Jeff

    Reply

  3. […] But back to the awesome vegan pâté. Easter is right around the corner, and it calls (at least in Poland) for a good pâté. What would the Easter Sunday be without this Easter staple? But, as rebellious as I am sometimes, I stick to the tradition only partially this year, offering a vegan version of this Easter treat. And you know what? It tastes heavenly. Especially with homegrown garden cress. […]

    Reply

  4. […] Traditionally, horseradish sauce is served with various types of meats (which is also a case in the UK, horseradish sauce being a much liked side to be served with roast dinner, especially with beef), hams, cold cuts, hard-boiled eggs or jellied fish. I, personally, love a bit of horseradish sauce in my sandwich. It goes very nicely with a slice of good ham and some homegrown garden cress. […]

    Reply

  5. […] low, and the fresh, seasonal vegetables are still only a dream. Early spring is for two things: growing your herbs and sprouts and clearing out the […]

    Reply

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