DID YOU KNOW THAT:
• While it’s the most ancient of green vegetables known to man, watercress has also been grown in outer space.
• Biblical women ate watercress to put color in their cheeks.
• B&W provides vast shipments of fresh Florida watercress each winter to Great Britain, when the native specialty crop is out of season.
• In the Middle Ages, doctors prescribed watercress as a poultice for toothache, ear ache (it was actually stuffed inside the orifice) and acne.
• Heloise, the newspaper columnist renowned for dispensing offbeat household tips, once recommended blending a handful of the herb with a cup of water, then boiling and straining the concoction before applying as a hair rinse.
• Watercress was once used by English country folk as a cure for hiccups and its leaves were crushed and applied externally to get rid fashion-conscious society women of freckles.
• In Elizabethan English times it was boiled with wine and drank it to prevent scurvy.
• Consumed as tea, migraine sufferers often find relief from it.
• In the 1920’s, watercress was thought to prevent tuberculosis.
• American Indians used watercress to dissolve gallstones and Spanish-speaking New Mexican Indians ate the plant to treat kidney and heart troubles.
• Pillows stuffed with watercress were once thought to induce sleep.
• Watercress was once prescribed as an antidote for nicotine poisoning.
• Around the turn-of-the-century, watercress was touted as a cure for many skin diseases, including sunburn and eczema, and such unrelated maladies as constipation and mouth ulcers.
• Watercress’ antibiotic properties, similar to those of the onion family, may be helpful in preventing colds and flu.
• Depending upon one’s culture, watercress has been used in small doses as an oral contraceptive by some and as an aphrodisiac by others. The bottom line is that this vegetable is one of the few that is as comfortable in the kitchen as in the bedroom.
• Watercress has been touted as a quick remedy for a hangover.
• Made into snuff, it is said to cure polyps.
• As delicate as it is, watercress contains a powerful “phytochemical” called isothiocyanate that has provided some degree of cancer protection to laboratory animals? When fed watercress-rich diets, their risk of developing heart disease have also decreased.
• Watercress is an ingredient in V-8 juice.
• Based upon its superior nutritional value and international cuisine versatility, watercress is on the official procurement list for all U.S. armed forces commissaries around the globe.