Seeds of Climate Change

Rashad - Iraqi Cress


LEPIDIUM SATIVUM

Spicy-sweet, mustard-flavored green. Technically a cress, rashad is used as a flat-leaf herb, served alongside parsley, green onion, cilantro, tarragon, and the like on a "khudhra" plate of herbs and veggies. A fresh accompaniment to the main meal, for snacking, and adding to fresh bread wraps called laffa. Endemic to Iraq, rashad is possibly the most popular seed to have made its way to the diaspora with its fellow Iraqis, often planted in backyard gardens to be harvested fresh for a meal. Rashad grows and goes to seed very quickly and is a great green to keep several successions of for a continuous harvest, like cilantro. Grows best in the cooler shoulder seasons.

SEED SAVERS

Iraqi Seed Collective (USA and Iraq) ︎︎︎