Watercress

WatercressPeppergrass

I love good watercress. It can stand more or less on its own and form the basis of an intensely flavourful salad or soup, or it can provide a beautiful counterpoint as a garnish to meat. In this latter role it often appears in Belgium, alongside a steak, with or without sauce, and a good steak's right and proper sidekick, the pile of perfectly made fritten. Watercress can also serve well as a nice garnish for a meaty but simple taco. Cool, fresh, tangy and, of course, spicy, watercress is perhaps the best of green garnishes for fried or grilled meats...

Except in Illinois. At least in my experience, watercress here is extremely disappointing. Indeed, in the 15 or 16 years I've been living in Chicago, I have never once purchased watercress that had the peppery zip of the watercress I grew up with in Jersey or later knew in Belgium and New York State; only rarely does it have any kick at all, more typically being a wholly un-peppery and just pleasant little (overpriced) green, both when I've gotten it from places such as Treasure Island or Whole Foods or from barrio groceries (Spanish: berros) where good produce is a real strength.

Are there any of you out there who (a) have had watercress of the sort I describe here, that is, with both a strong spicy or peppery element and very pronounced flavour AND (b) have found this for sale around here? Of the foodstuffs I miss here in Chicago, this sort of intense watercress is one of the ones I miss most. And I find myself at the moment longing for a nice Belgian style steak-friet with a little mound of refreshing peppergrass on the side...

Antonius

I too have had trouble getting good watercress. It's almost inevitably past its prime when you see it at the various grocery stores. The best that I've bought was from Green Acres stand at the Evanston market, but this was back in May.

When it is looking good, at least, I find the watercress on offer at the Argyle area shops to be quite serviceable. You will find it packed in ice and stacked in cardboard boxes. It generally runs .99/bunch. While it may not be as properly peppery as you desire, it is firm and fresh. My kitchen floor tilts toward the East, so I tend to slightly wilt the cress in a warm beef salad or quickly stir-fry it with black pepper, nuoc mam or soy, and sometimes a lightly beaten egg. For these preps it is perfect.

I was introduced to watercress at a very young age. My father and I would regularly pick it ourselves from spring-fed streams in the Northwestern part of Illinois. Ogle, Whiteside, and Carrol counties, specifically. My mother, who still lives in that area, picked some just the other week for a party salad. Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to freshly harvested Illinois cress. No, not even the stuff I ate regularly one summer, in Lokeren, Belgium.


Erik M.

Erik M. wrote:Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to freshly harvested Illinois cress.

Why then can't they get the good stuff to market here then?

No, not even the stuff I ate regularly one summer, in Lokeren, Belgium.

Well, Lokeren is in East Flanders and no self-respecting Brabander would consider eating East Flemish cress!

The watercress in Jersey was introduced by the Dutch settlers in New Netherland days and long enjoyed a high reputation; there's even a town in Bergen County, named for a stream that was especially filled with wild-growing and extremely pepperey watercress : Cresskill (Du. Kerskil 'cress creek'). Alas, I'm all but sure that what's left of the Kerskil is underground and producing little peppergrass anymore.

Antonius

The watercress in Jersey was introduced by the Dutch settlers in New Netherland days and long enjoyed a high reputation; there's even a town in Bergen County, named for a stream that was especially filled with wild-growing and extremely pepperey watercress : Cresskill (Du. Kerskil 'cress creek').

Ahh, that chow mecca, Joisey, whence all good things spring .

I think I shall start a little LTH pool on how many words Antonius can write in a post before bringing up New Jersey. Anyone in?

A nice little steak on a bed of lightly dressed watercress does sound delectable. On the other hand, me Mum always wanted us to have a light tea on Sundays with finger sandwiches in place of dinner, one of which always featured watercress. In my juvenile days, this was not at all acceptable.

Erik M

Nothing, absolutely nothing compares to freshly harvested Illinois cress.

Antonius

Why then can't they get the good stuff to market here then?

Antonius,

I think ErikM offered you a tremendous hint where to get the best watercress in Illinois: you pick it yourself.

I realize that is not exactly practical for everyone, however unless there is an overwhelming shift in local consumer interest in watercress, then you are not likely to find what you want. Though ErikM's description of what he finds on Argyle is desireable level of freshness and a reasonable price point.

Cathy2 wrote:I think ErikM offered you a tremendous hint where to get the best watercress in Illinois: you pick it yourself...
I realize that is not exactly practical for everyone, however unless there is an overwhelming shift in local consumer interest in watercress, then you are not likely to find what you want...

Cathy:

You may well be right on the first count and certainly are right on the second. If the only way to get really good watercress here is to pick it oneself, I doubt I'll have any, since I live downtown and have no idea where one would find a stream that a) has good watercress growing in it; b) is sufficiently clean to allow one to ingest safely its products; c) is legally accessible to the public. That all seems a little daunting for an urban type such as myself who remains not very knowledgeable about the virtues of rural Illinois. As you suggest, an increase in interest in the local consumer is what is needed and, if -- as Erik M alleges -- there is watercress here of superior quality, one would hope it would turn up at the very least in some of the farmers' markets. I guess I was hoping my query would turn up some lead in that direction. So far it has not.

Your comment regarding a needed increase in interest in good, pungent, spicy watercress on the part of the local consumer is definitely right but then leads me to wonder further whether part of the problem is that people out here either don't really know what the intensely flavoured stuff is like or don't really like it. In general, the American palate prefers the bland to the intense, and the sweet and salty to the bitter and piquant. That the preference for blandness is real is borne out by the sad quality of jalapeno peppers available in major chain groceries, which is most apparent if one compares them with the jalapenos sold in barrio groceries. Rocket or arugula, which has become quite popular, has also been 'dumbed down', as it were, in the course of it being marketed to an ever broader public. And of course, these unhappy developments may all be linked to the broader business practices of corporate agricultural and mega-chain grocery retailing which have been brought up in the thread on eating local products and farmers' markets.

Incidentally, in Latin watercress was called nasturtium, that is 'nose-twist', which captures well the effect of the intense flavour of the good stuff. And, lest 'd' be disappointed, I should mention that in my native Bergen County (in northeastern New Jersey), there was a dialect of Dutch spoken continuously down from the 17th to the mid 20th century (the last native speaker died in in the 1960's), and the local term for our very pungent watercress was the term I used in my earlier posts here, pepergras.

A
_________________