After a good walk along the paths of La Gomera, it is a pleasure to taste the famous Canarian watercress stew, served in the traditional way in wooden plates of sabina or aceviño. This dish forms part of the gastronomic culture of the Canary Islands. It can be served as a single dish or as first before the main, accompanied by gofio, small pieces of tender white cheese or slices of raw onion and its broth is used to make the traditional "scalded gofio".
There are different ways to prepare this stew and the recipes vary from one house to another. Its main ingredients are watercress, potatoes, white beans, pineapples (corn), oil, salt, garlic, parsley, cumin and pork.
The watercress that is grown in the Canary Islands is the "Nasturium officinalis" that grows in the water and is the most consumed in Europe and Latin America.
In La Gomera we have fresh watercress throughout the year, these grow wild in places with water and in the ravines of the island.
Did you know?
Watercress is considered one of the oldest vegetables consumed by humans. Its different uses were known in antiquity by Persians, Greeks or Romans.
The Persians, considered this species as an ideal food for children, as it strengthened their body and growth. It was also recommended for the Persian and Greek soldiers of those times, since these were in better conditions after the ingestion of this vegetable. Even Hippocrates, a physician in the fifth century BC, spoke of his stimulating and expectorant properties and when he founded his first hospital on the island of Kos he used watercress to treat his patients' blood disorders. In those times, they were usually consumed with oil and vinegar.
Nutritive properties. Watercress is very rich in mineral salts, potassium, calcium, iron, sulfur, sodium, fiber, folic acid, beta carotene, vitamins such as C, A and E ...
It has antioxidant properties for its vitamin E being a great ally against cancer, depurative and antiscorbutic properties because of its high content of vitamin C. It is indicated for diabetics, for their balancing capacity of blood sugar (infusion with their branches), for kidney problems (infusion with its leaves), digestive problems, problems of anemia or goiter.
If you want to prepare a nutritious watercress stew in your house we will provide you with one of the many existing recipes.
- Watercress is cleaned and chopped and then stripped until juice is released.
- In a cauldron, with water to the fire, the white beans, which have been soaking overnight, and the meat are thrown away.
- Later, a pack of garlic, parsley, salt and very few cumin is added, made in the mortar.
- At the moment of putting the squash in the pot, also the watercress, a little oil, the potatoes and corn pineapples. All this, let it cook well.
Bon Appetite!