World Watercress Soup Championships to be Staged at the Watercress Festival – Sunday 20th May 2012

Click here to download an entry form…  World Watercress Soup Championships 2012- Entry Form.

Delia makes it with leeks, potatoes and crème fraiche; Raymond Blanc uses onions, leeks, garlic and spinach and adds ice cubes to retain the bright green colour, while Nick Nairn uses cornflour to thicken and double cream to taste… watercress soup – it‟s a classic but which variation is the best?  This year at the 9th annual Watercress Festival on Sunday 20th May, the search for the ultimate watercress soup will be realised and the winner named the World Watercress Soup Champion 2012.

Last year 15,000 people descended on the small market town of Alresford in Hampshire, capital of watercress, to celebrate the start of the season for this very British crop. Organisers this year are encouraging festival goers, together with restaurateurs and food producers, to come armed with their very own version of watercress soup to tantalise the tastebuds and be judged!

Entrants should bring a flask of their soup to Alresford’s Cook Academy where celebrity chef Sophie Grigson, a representative from the Watercress Alliance, and some soon to be announced “foodies”, will be among the judges, to select the best variant on the traditional classic, but also the best “speciality watercress soup”. This could be a watercress based soup but which features other unusual or interesting ingredients. The winners of both the classic watercress soup and the speciality soup will be announced on the day and presented with a stunning “golden” ladle plus a £500 cash prize.

Charles Barter, of the Watercress Alliance, principal sponsors of the Festival, said: “Watercress Soup is one of Britain’s best known dishes – served hot or cold – it is healthy and easy to cook. It first became popular in the 17th century when it was claimed to cleanse the blood and then 200 years later was still a mainstay of Victorian cuisine. They believed the plant was a cure for toothache, hiccups and even freckles!  Today watercress soup remains the most searched for recipe on our watercress website. Everyone has their personal quirk that makes it their own and we want to capture as many of these as possible. We challenge the Great British public to bring us the best watercress soup they have to offer.”