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Home Vegetarian Cooking 101 Ingredient Guides

Cress 101

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By: Sarah BondUpdated: Jun 13, 2021 4 Comments

This post contains affiliate links.

Everything you need to know about how to use cress, including the different varieties, how to store it, nutrition information, and more!

Watercress leaves close up

For those unfamiliar with this veg, cress is one of the oldest leafy greens us humans have eaten. It’s a water or soil grown plant that’s in the same family as mustard and cabbage, giving it a distinctly spicy, peppery, pungent flavor.

Varieties of cress

There are many varieties of cress out there, grown in many different ways! But they all tend to share the same flavor profile – a bit spicy!

  • Watercress: Grown freely in water, this variety has the most pungent flavor and texture.
  • Garden Cress: This variety is grown in soil and has a spicy flavor, like horse radish.
  • Upland Cress: Thinner stems and more delicate flavor. This variety often comes in plastic bags, with the cress still attached to the roots.
  • Korean Watercress: More crunchy and bitter.

How to Buy Cress

Similarly to how you would buy spinach or kale, when buying cress in the grocery look for dark, crisp leaves that are free from bruised or yellow spots.

Watercress leaves attached to root on a white background

How to Store Cress

Like most leafy greens, cress is highly perishable so you should only store it for a couple of days. If you bought it in a bunch, either:

  • Wrap the stems in a damp cloth and cover the leafy end with a plastic bag, or…
  • Place the stems in a glass of water (like we do with parsley) and wrap the leafy ends in a plastic bag

(Both methods of storing cress should be stored in the fridge).

How to Prepare Cress

Rinse and pat dry, then cut off the thick parts of the stems. Then you can either saute it for about a minute (as you would spinach), steam it, or eat it raw! Here are a few of our favorite cress recipes:

  • Watercress Pesto
  • Watercress Citrus Salad
  • Watercress Green Smoothie
Watercress leaves in a bowl

Cress Nutrition Information

per 1 cup (34 g)

  • Calories: 4
  • Carbohydrates: 0.4 g
  • Fiber: 0.2 g, 0% Daily Value (DV)
  • Protein: 1 g
  • Fat: 0 g
  • 106% DV of Vitamin K: A fat-soluble vitamin that allows for activation of enzymes in the clotting cascade, which is responsible for blood clotting. Also builds bone by modifying osteocalcin so that it may bind calcium, thus building the bone matrix.
  • 24% DV of Vitamin C: A water-soluble vitamin that acts as an antioxidant to fight against potentially damaging free radicals (molecules with unshared electrons that float around wreaking havoc) and an important cofactor in collagen synthesis.
  • 21% DV of Vitamin A: Provides the provitamin version of this fat-soluble vitamin, meaning it comes from a plant source and your body converts the plant pigment into active Vitamin A. It is essential in many components of healthy vision, as well as immunity and cell growth/differentiation.
Watercress leaves close up

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  1. Bonnie says

    Posted on 9/18 at 12:16 am

    Could you please provide the scientific names of the different plants referred to as watercress? Thanks!

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      Posted on 9/18 at 4:34 pm

      Hi Bonnie! While I can’t be 100% sure, I think it’s Nasturtium officinale. 😀

  2. L.T. says

    Posted on 4/9 at 6:30 am

    I recently bought raw watercress from Chinese grocer in USA and ate a little of it raw. I later found out raw watercress can infect people with liver flukes. How can I find out if the watercress I ate was safe from liver flukes? This store seemed to have many exotic plants not native to USA and were probably imported.

    Reply
    • Sarah says

      Posted on 4/16 at 11:11 am

      Hi there! I’m really not sure, but would guess that if it’s imported into the U.S. it would have had to undergo certification that it was safe.

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