The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Growing => Vegetables => Topic started by: ArosP on March 17, 2014, 12:17:52 pm

Title: Watercress
Post by: ArosP on March 17, 2014, 12:17:52 pm: I have quite a lot of watercress growing in a stream through my garden. However i know that there are regularly deer upstream, is there any way of knowing or ensuring that it is safe to eat
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: Lesley Silvester on March 18, 2014, 12:00:41 am: I would so love to have a stream and watercress. I did grow some in a trough once.

Would it not be ok if you made sure you washed it thoroughly? I'm sure that watercress that we buy must have all sorts peeing in the water. It would only be a problem if a deer had died in the water, I would have thought.
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: Dans on March 18, 2014, 01:56:15 pm: One thing to watch for would actually be liver fluke. Deer are a natural host of liver fluke and wild watercress is known to be a transmission route to humans. I've never looked into it much but I would be wary and do some research.

Dans
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: Fleecewife on March 18, 2014, 04:53:14 pm: Quote from: Dans on March 18, 2014, 01:56:15 pm
One thing to watch for would actually be liver fluke. Deer are a natural host of liver fluke and wild watercress is known to be a transmission route to humans. I've never looked into it much but I would be wary and do some research.

Dans

This is the way I grew up with - wild watercress carries liver fluke, so don't touch it.
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: henchard on March 18, 2014, 05:18:15 pm: see

http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Fasciola-Hepatica.htm (http://www.patient.co.uk/doctor/Fasciola-Hepatica.htm)

Particularly 'Water-grown vegetables should be washed with 6% vinegar or potassium permanganate for 5-10 minutes which kills the encysted metacercariae'

I have no idea if this is correct but can't see why not.
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: Bramblecot on March 19, 2014, 12:12:37 am: I've just looked on the Milton bottle and it says you can rinse salad and veg with it. Learn something new every day ;D . Would that sort liver fluke?
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: ArosP on March 19, 2014, 01:28:45 pm: Well Bramblecot, i googled watercress and fluke and the man from HFWs river cottage recommended doing that. Thats pretty much whatis done to bagged salad isnt it
I would say it is quite likely that there could be dead deer upstream from me
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: pgkevet on March 20, 2014, 07:16:26 am: I have a couple of suitable streams and did fancy growing my own watercress. But ths is a Welsh valley with run-off from sheep fields every upstream way.
I've seen enough PM specimens of fluke damage to put me off.

I've flown over commercial cress farms n my PPL days. This is how it's grown http://www.thewatercresscompany.co.uk/process.php (http://www.thewatercresscompany.co.uk/process.php) although the question has to be regardng the commercial water sources and quality testing.

If I was going to grow my own it'd be in a smaller scale cress patch/pond irrigated with my borehole water.
Title: Re: Watercress
Post by: FiB on March 20, 2014, 09:42:24 am: We have the same, and I wouldn't eat it raw (did a lot of googling too), it's possible that it might be ok with or without washing.... But the consequences of making a wrong call once are life long, not just a stomach bug.....Cooking does completely kill the agent though... We have a lot of watercress soup. One source did suggest that new leaves above the highest flow level were safer, if you are going to risk it.