What’s stopping us from growing this back home in Westland?
Our family business can trace its roots back to 1958. Maarten Prins, a chicory and beansprout grower from Westland, is on a field trip in Denmark. He comes across garden cress, a delicacy unknown in Holland. A keen businessman, Maarten spots a niche in the market and asks, “What’s stopping us from growing this back home in Westland?”
How the country fell in love with cress
Back in the Netherlands, Maarten sets to work with his brother, Willem, and introduces cress to the nation. Thanks to their efforts, garden cress is a household name within just a few years. At the same time, Maarten pours his heart and soul into promoting produce grown in his native Westland. He even showcases Westland’s finest fruit and vegetables at the Floriade 1960 horticultural show and takes home first prize.
A family business
Maarten’s prize medal bears the inscription ‘from seed to strength’, embodying the essence of horticultural dedication — planting the smallest of seeds to feed thousands of people. Sometime later, Maarten’s nephews, Leendert and Maarten, take over running the company, with subsequent generations following suit by maintaining the family tradition. Today, Cresco is led by the third and fourth generations: Martin and Rita Prins, along with their children, Mitchel and Marisca, and son-in-law, Rob.
Your dish’s crowning glory
Cresco offers an extensive selection of cresses, culinary herbs, marine produce and edible flowers. Our cresses come in many colours and boast diverse flavour profiles.
Following in Maarten Prins’ pioneering footsteps, our company continues to develop new products and cultivation techniques. This allows us to stay at the forefront of evolving culinary trends while reducing our environmental footprint. Our cress is the crowning glory of countless dishes, an edible ode to that fortuitous field trip in 1958.
