Meadow Cuckoo Flower

Meadow cuckoo flower is commonly known, amongst other names, as ‘Bettseicherli’. This refers to its diuretic properties and it should therefore be used with caution.

Like its relative, garden cress (Lepidium sativum), the plant is rich in minerals, bitter compounds, mustard oil glycosides and vitamin C, and can also stimulate the metabolism, stimulate the appetite, aid digestion and purify the blood. These properties make it a popular choice for revitalising spring health regimens. The active ingredients can also stimulate the liver and gallbladder, thereby producing an additional beneficial effect.

Furthermore, meadow foam is used in folk medicine as a pain-relieving and antispasmodic remedy. It can, for example, help to relieve rheumatic complaints or cramps.

Meadow cuckoo flower is something quite special in wild cuisine. It has an intensely spicy flavour with a slight heat reminiscent of cress. Among other things, it contains mustard oils, which are responsible for its spicy taste. However, these mustard oils can also irritate the stomach and should therefore only be consumed in small quantities.

Both the leaves and the flowers of meadow foam can be used. Before the flowers appear, the young, tender leaves can already be harvested. They have a cress-like to slightly bitter flavour and are an aromatic ingredient in a wide variety of salads, herb soups, spreads and vegetable dishes. The older the leaves are, the more bitter they become.

As soon as the flowers appear, they become the preferred part to harvest. They have a delicate piquancy and are also a delight to the eye. They can be eaten raw or used as a colourful and flavourful garnish for savoury dishes. As well as being used for decoration, they can also be used as an ingredient to enhance casseroles, pestos, spreads, soups and vegetable dishes. They are also excellent for flavouring oil, vinegar or sauces and can give light-coloured liquids a faint pink tint.

The spicy seeds contain a high proportion of mustard oils and can be used as a substitute for pepper in late summer.

In spring, between March and May, the meadow cuckoo flower is very common in Central Europe. It is also found in North Asia, North America, Korea and Japan. There are around 20 species of cuckoo flower in Switzerland. They belong to the Brassicaceae family (Brassicaceae) and all have four petals.

The scientific genus name for the cuckoo flowers is ‘Cardamine’, which means ‘cress’. The species name ‘pratensis’ is derived from the Latin word ‘pratum’, meaning ‘meadow’. Thus, ‘pratensis’ means ‘growing in meadows’.

The meadow cuckoo flower is sometimes found covered in the foam produced by the meadow cuckoo cicada (Philaenus spumarius). These plants should not be collected. The meadow spittlebug is approximately 5–6 mm in size, lives on the meadow cuckoo flower and lays its eggs on the plant. The larvae hatch from the eggs and suck the sap from the plant. The larvae pump air bubbles into a fluid which they excrete – this is what forms the foam.

Meadow foam usually grows to between 20 and 40 cm in height. It forms a basal rosette of leaves with imparipinnate leaflets. These are more or less circular in shape, with the terminal leaflet being slightly larger. The leaves growing along the stem are arranged alternately; they are also imparipinnate, but the individual leaflets are much narrower. The four-petalled, delicate violet corolla petals are marked with darker veins. The flowers are arranged in clusters at the tips of the stems. After flowering, the rod-shaped pods form, which contain the seeds.