WATER-CRESSES.
The water-cress, the sight alone of which made the learned Scaliger shudder with terror, is supposed to be a native of Crete. It was, doubtless, the cresses of Alen (Suabia), which are cultivated in our gardens, and not those commonly found in brooks and springs.
The Persians were in the habit of eating them with bread:[IX_206] they made, in this manner, so delicious a meal, that the splendour of a Syracusan table would not have tempted them.[IX_207] This is one of those examples of sobriety which may be admired, but are seldom followed.
Plutarch did not share the opinion of the Persians, but scornfully ranked cresses amongst the lowest aliments of the people.[IX_208] Nevertheless, the Romans, as well as the Greeks, granted to this cruciform plant a host of beneficent qualities, and among others, a singularly refreshing property. Refreshing! to say the truth, it refreshes much in the same way that mustard and pepper do.[IX_209] Boiled in goat’s milk, it cured thoracic affections;[IX_210] introduced into the ears, it relieved the toothache:[IX_211] and finally, persons who made it their habitual food found their wits sharpened and their intelligence more active and ingenious.[IX_212]
However, it does not appear that cresses ever enjoyed, in Rome or Athens, a culinary vogue equal to their officinal reputation; it was said that its acrid taste twisted the nose,[IX_213] and this coarse jest naturally did it harm to a certain degree with the rich and delicate. Be that as it may, those who dared, ate it dressed in the following manner:—
With garum, or oil and vinegar;[IX_214] or with pepper, cummin-seed, and lentiscus (leaves of the mastic-tree).[IX_215]
The water-cress par excellence grows in springs, rivulets, and ditches, in Europe. Its piquant taste is rather agreeable; it is eaten as a salad or seasoning, with poultry and other roasted meat. This plant increases the appetite, fortifies the stomach, and possesses anti-scorbutic qualities.
A great consumption is made of it in certain countries. It is cultivated in running waters, either in gardens, or sown in the shade, where it is watered abundantly. The less it sees the sun, the softer it is.—Bosc.
X.
PLANTS USED IN SEASONING.
We will point out, as briefly as possible, those plants mostly used in the kitchens of the ancients to heighten the flavour of their dishes, or to give them a particular taste, according as the dish or fancy might require it. In them especially lies the secret of those irritamenta gulæ, or excitements of the palate, which Apicius brought so much into fashion.