Garden cress

Cresson alénois

What it is

In the old British mustard-and-cress punnet the cress is sown three or four days ahead of the mustard, because it is the slower of the two — sown together, the mustard smothers it. It needs no soil at all: a damp cloth or a pad of wool is enough, which is how every schoolroom windowsill has grown it.

In the kitchen

Cut it with scissors just above the seed coats and serve it raw the same day — heat erases the mustard heat within seconds. Rinse as little as you can: wet seedlings collapse and never recover.

Goes with

Egg Potato Butter Smoked salmon Cucumber Beetroot

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