It's paired with a sweet-peppery salad of watercress, apple, currant and shaved celery, adapted from the restaurant's fall menu.

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Whether selecting farmed or wild watercress, be sure to avoid bunches with dark or moist spots or wilting, yellowed leaves.

WSJ: Watercress, Springtime's Superfood

Though cultivated year-round, watercress is at its best and sweetest right now, before warmer weather brings on bitter-tasting blossoms and tougher stems.

WSJ: Watercress, Springtime's Superfood

There would also be a soup, usually made of spinach or watercress or bamboo shoots mixed with dried shrimp, tofu, or egg drops, or even rice crust.

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He sat now by the stream watching the clear water flowing between the rocks and, across the stream, he noticed there was a thick bed of watercress.

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The forests are abundant with medicinal plants and mushrooms, and the fields produce maize, squash, tomatoes, beans, watercress and potatoes, as well as a large range of fruit.

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Then it's a visit to Brooklyn for Brian Leth's recent addition to Vinegar Hill House's list of specials, a pappardelle with the garden-variety snails plus watercress, pears and hazelnuts.

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We'd flank the dish with sides of corn on the cob, a garlic-studded green such as escarole, a balsamic-slicked watercress salad and even some barbecued meat for the non-crab lovers of the family.

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Whatever the veracity of these claims, the tasty little leaves are unquestionably a superfood: Gram for gram, watercress contains more vitamin C than oranges do, more calcium than milk, more iron than spinach and more folate than bananas.

WSJ: Watercress, Springtime's Superfood