The wonders of watercress (From Hampshire Society)

The wonders of watercress

4:16pm Tuesday 5th May 2009

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Thanks to its abundance of crystal clear chalk spring water, Hampshire is renowned as the UK’s centre for watercress farming.

At the very heart of watercress production in Britain is the Georgian town of Alresford, home to five watercress farms and the highest concentration of watercress beds in the UK.

The clear mineral-rich chalk waters of the River Alre, which flows through Alresford, provide the perfect growing conditions for the peppery salad leaf and locals have been picking and eating it for centuries.

But it was the development of a rail link to Alresford in 1865, providing farmers with a swift way of transporting their leaves to Covent Garden, that put Alresford at the centre of the watercress industry.

Today the picturesque town is considered the UK capital of watercress farming.

This month some 10,000 food lovers are expected to descend upon Alresford for the annual watercress festival in celebration of its famous crop.

The free family event on Sunday, May 17 heralds the start of National Watercress Week and the beginning of the British watercress season.

This year’s food festival will begin with a street cavalcade in which jazz musicians morris dancers and local school children will accompany the Watercress King and Queen through the streets, distributing the first of the season’s watercress harvest to festival-goers.

Other highlights include a Hampshire Farmer’s market in Broad Street, featuring some 50 local producers, offering all kinds of tasty treats from watercress pesto to watercress scones and even watercress chocolates!

Hampshire Fare’s Susie Carter will be showcasing the watercress recipe that won her ITV’s Britain’s Best Dish competition while Lainston House Hotel’s award winning chefs Andy MacKenzie (Hampshire Chef of the Year) and Mark Tilling (UK Chocolate Master of the Year) will be demonstrating their culinary skills.

The World Watercress Eating Championships are also back by popular demand as well as live street music, children’s cookery workshops and face painting.

There is also the chance to see a budding local chef pit his own watercress creation against a professional chef in a Ready Steady Cook-style challenge.

Now in its sixth year the Watercress Festival is sponsored by the Watercress Alliance, a body made up of the three largest watercress producers in the UK.

Between them, Vitacress, Bakkavor and The Watercress Company, pack and distribute from 100 acres in Hampshire and Dorset.

Vitacress – the principle grower of watercress in Europe – started life and is still based in Alresford.

The company manages 11 watercress farms across the UK and Europe including three in Alresford. “We produce 2,000 tonnes of watercress a year and about a quarter of that comes from our Alresford farms,” said Vitacress technical director Dr Steve Rothwell – nicknamed ‘Dr Watercress’ thanks to his PhD in the subject.

From one acre of watercress beds in Alresford in 1951, Vitacress has blossomed into an international company with 300,000 sq m of land.

Its thriving farms radiate from Hampshire to Dorset, Wiltshire, Kent and even Portugal.

“Watercress is unique because it is cultivated in pure, flowing spring water,” said Dr Rothwell.

“It has a terrific history, is incredibly versatile and there is endless literature referring to its health benefits.”

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