Daily Mail Home had a front page article today, touting watercress as the healthiest vegetable existing.
Seventy years ago my mother would return from a foraging expedition with watercress, creasy, wild mustard, lambs quarter, poke, dandelions, and other stuff i can’t recall. I remember it being tasty enough, especially with a dribble of apple cider vinegar. It was, no doubt cooked with bacon drippings.
All that is still around me, except for the watercress. But where did she come up with it?
Googling and searching afoot, over the hill from her old homeplace, where a waterpipe used to be, a dank cool spot, where they kept fresh churned butter and whole milk a couple days at least, it was found. Bright green, in sunlit running water, the healthiest vegetable that exists, I was stunned. Is it native?
I have it in a raised planter that recieves probably 6-8 hours of afternoon sun. Its a pretty deep planter with water storage built into the bottom, so it stays pretty irrigated. While I haven’t had it it through a summer yet, seems relatively easy to grow. Probably doesn’t need a constant water source like if does in the wild, just regular vegetable watering should be fine.
I use it in salads or anywhere else I would use spicy greens, like it quiche or on burgers. Tastes good! Not a very big plant though, so if you wanted it as a staple, you would need a large amount of plants.
Watercress grows in roadside and laneway ditches in our neighborhood, but I haven’t harvested it for a long time. I have kidney stone problems, and Watercress contains a high level of oxalates; so, it’s off the menu for me. It’s unfortunate, but a lot of very nutritious vegetables are high in oxalates.
I love watercress! I only harvest it from cold spring water. There is a liver fluke that will turn your liver into Swiss cheese if you harvest it from calmer bodies of warm water. I would love to grow it in my creeks or ponds, but I’m smarter than that. Animals die in water sometimes, and if that happens, the water becomes a host for that type of thing.
As @marknmt said giardia can be a thing to watch also. That does not mean you can’t do it rather keep those things in mind.