Cress Common

Almost everyone who grew up in Britain has grown cress — on damp kitchen paper, in an eggshell, on a wet flannel on a primary school windowsill. It is where British growers begin, and the first tiny peppery shoots cut with blunt scissors are one of the most universally remembered encounters with gardening there is.

It is far more than nostalgia. The flavour is sharp, clean and immediate — not the fiery heat of a radish microgreen but a bright, almost aquatic pepper that is entirely its own. It arrives vividly and then goes, which is what makes it so useful: it brightens a dish without taking it over.

Never rinse the seed. Cress seeds develop a clear gel coating when wetted, which is what anchors them to a damp surface and holds moisture for the germinating seedling. It looks alarming and is entirely natural. Rinsing removes it and germination suffers badly. Mist gently from above instead. Four to six days from scattering to scissors.