Garden cress
Seedlings of garden cress
Garden cress ( Lepidium sativum ) is a cultivated plant from the family of cruciferous plants ( Brassicaceae). It is believed that the garden cress from West or Central Asia comes; there she is still wild before.
Description and etymology
The annual herbaceous plant growth reaches heights of up to 50 centimeters. The stems are glabrous, bluish green and branched upwards. The white to pink flowers are hermaphroditic and numerous. Are formed pods.
The pungent taste of the plant, which is caused by the glucosinolates contained therein, gave cress her name, derived from the Old High German word Cresso, sharp '.
Culture
The culture of garden cress can take place on different materials and ground, with the Perlitsubstrat traditionally used to be just like cellulose fibers and foamed plastics increasingly replaced by growing webs of flax and hemp fibers. The advantages of lower fertilizer requirements, the rapid germination and rapid growth of cress and easier disposal of the growing webs are called.
Use
Garden cress tastes raw spicy, the taste is reminiscent of mustard and radish, which is at the level of mustard oil glycosides. In the grocery trade access and be used in the kitchen especially the seedlings, which can be harvested about a week after sowing.
The varieties of this species are used fresh for cold spreads, especially those on cream cheese or cottage cheese base, and for salads. Sometimes you sprinkle the chopped leaves on warm dishes, such as vegetable soups or egg dishes. Also popular are chopped cress leaves on butter or lard bread.
Garden cress is also one of the seven herbs that are used for the Frankfurt green sauce.
Furthermore finds the garden cress use in biomonitoring. In this cress test can be detected from the seed behavior of a load of air, water and soil.
The most common annual garden cress is probably from the Near East, their seeds have been found in ancient pharaohs tombs. Even the Greeks and Romans, they estimated Charlemagne ordered its cultivation in his capitularies.
Similar Species
In addition to garden cress and the perennial pepper weed ( Lepidium latifolium ) is used in the kitchen. To watercress (Nasturtium officinale) of the genus Nasturtium is only a similarity of names, not a close relationship. Other namesakes see cress.
Agents
Garden cress is characterized by a high content of vitamin C, iron, calcium and folic acid. It also contains vitamin B. Easy to cultivate, garden cress is suitable especially in the winter when fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce, as a food supplement. A substance that is responsible for the taste of garden cress, is the isothiocyanate benzyl isothiocyanate, which consists of the ingredient glucotropaeolin itself - a mustard oil glycoside - forms.
Full-grown plant with flowers and silicles