It’s my newest craze. It’s cress! But not just any old type of cress. This particular kind is broccoli cress. I am not too fond of broccoli, although I know it’s really good for you. I don’t mind the taste, it’s the ‘raggedy’ texture I do not like. I think with a lot of food the mouth feel is almost as important as the flavour.

The great thing with this broccoli cress is that it contains a very high concentration of vitamins and minerals. In fact there’s as much of it in 5 grams of this cress as there is in 150 grams of grown up broccoli!

Or as the growers of these little seedlings say: ‘Eating a cup of Broccoli Cress is equal to eating a whole backyard full with Broccoli.’

The company that grows broccoli cress and a whole bunch of other types, including rucola cress, mustard cress, limon cress, chives cress, basil cress and so on, is called Koppert Cress, based in the Dutch town of Monster. They specialize in, what they call micro vegetables and they are a big success in the gastronomic world. Since January 2007 they also supply from Long Island, USA.

Cress is amazing versatile stuff. Not only spunky to dress a dish with something else than parsley but you can add it to every soup, salad, sandwich or any other food you like. The taste (of the ones that I have tasted so far) of the cress is surprisingly mild. The broccoli cress has just a hint of broccoli and the chives cress has a supple garlic flavour. And since it’s so good for you, why not add it to a boring cheese sandwich with the bonus of the ‘wow I am really being healthy today’ feeling!

Check out the Koppert Cress website