Shahi (Iranian Cress)

Shahi is a garden cress, cousin to Iraqi Rishad and Turkish Cere with long, tender, light green spoon-shaped leaves with serrated edges. Shahi is an essential part of sabzi khordan, the plate of fresh herbs that accompanies almost every Iranian meal. Our seed grower Leilah Rezvani reminisces: "I ate Shahi for the first time in Iran - we bought the ingredients for sabzi khordan from a farmer who was selling them off of his cart on the corner near my grandma’s house. I fell in love with its super fresh, bright flavor, like watercress but more tender and with an even stronger peppery aftertaste that stays in your nose like horseradish. I tracked down seed when I returned to the US and have been growing it on our farm ever since."

Days to maturity: 30 days to leaf, 60 days to seed

Seeds per pack: 100-110

Germination rate: 70% on 1/21/2025

Planting / harvesting notes

Direct sow in mid spring (before heat sets in) or start in trays. Germinates quickly and
easily, but be sure to use row cover to keep off flea beetles (if you’re in the northeast). You can direct seed about 1” apart for cut and come again baby greens, or thin/transplant to about 6” apart for larger plants and leaves that you can pick off of the outside. Shahi bolts quickly in heat but if planted early enough you can get multiple harvests of leaves. Even after it bolts, the stem stays tender and edible (and is very spicy!) until it’s about 6” tall. Shahi also bolts into a beautiful spray of tiny, star-like white flowers which are beautiful in bouquets.

Seed keeping notes

Harvest after the shahi has bolted, flowered, set seed and most of the seed has
dried down on the plant (the main stem of the plant and the seed pods have started
to turn brown). Cut whole plants at the base and lay them down in the field to
dry on the black landscape fabric laid down in the walking paths (but also any fabric
will work - sheet or pillowcase or whatever), or if any precipitation is predicted, lay them in a protected area to dry (high tunnel, basement, under an overhang). Leave them to dry another day (or three) like that, then roll up the fabric and take it somewhere for threshing. To thresh, take handfuls of the plant by the stem and whack it against the inside of a bucket (mature seeds fall off and out of their pods). Consider running your hand along the branches to pull off seeds, though the more you run your hands, the more unripe seeds will fall - the best fall first. Screen it and winnow using breath, wind, or a box fan and gently tip the threshed seeds and chaff out in front of the air current (with a bucket underneath).

Collections