Adapted from The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld (Scribner 2000)
Nasturtiums are true multi-use flowers. They’re easy to grow and beautiful, and they attract pollinators to your garden to boot. Both nasturtium flowers and young leaves are edible as long as you grow them organically, which isn’t hard to do. They provide a peppery punch similar to watercress in salads, and the flowers add a gorgeous splash of color. Nasturtiums even contain decent amounts of vitamin C.
A regular caper is the flower bud of the Capparis spinosa plant and its seedpod is called a caper berry, which is also delicious (especially in a bloody mary) when brined. The seedpods of nasturtiums look just like the caper plant’s buds, and they taste similar to capers once pickled. In my opinion they’re better. Nasturtiums form seedpods in late summer; you’ll find them attached to the stems underneath the foliage, where they develop in clusters of three. You want young pods that are still green since mature seedpods turn yellowish and hard.
Last summer, Dan caught this pretty amazing picture of a hummingbird in his nasturtium patch:
Isn’t he/she cute??? Here’s another great shot. Can you find our hummingbird friend in this pic?
This recipe calls for two steps: Brining and Pickling. The process takes about a week, so plan accordingly. Not to worry, most of the work is waiting for the salt to work its magic on the raw seedpods:
You’ll need:
- tablespoons canning or kosher salt
- 2 cup water
- 1 cup green nasturtium seedpods
- 1.5 cups white wine vinegar
- 4 teaspoons sugar
- 4 fresh bay leaves, or 2 dried
- 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
Brine:
1. Bring the salt and water to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Put the nasturtium seedpods in a pint glass jar and pour the boiling brine over them.
3. Cover and let them soak at room temperature for 3 days.
Pickle:
4. Drain the nasturtium seedpods in a fine sieve and return them to the jar.
5. Bring the vinegar, sugar, bay leaves, and thyme to a boil in a small (1-quart) saucepan.
6. Pour the boiling vinegar mixture over the seedpods and let cool.
7. Cover the jar and refrigerate for three days before using.
These little beauties will keep for 6 months in the fridge if fully submersed in the vinegar.
August 28th, 2012 at 6:34 PM
Wow. I’ve never though about canning or pickling anything, but this actually looks pretty easy. Can this recipe be used for other foods?
August 28th, 2012 at 6:43 PM
I wouldn’t follow this recipe to pickle other foods since the acid:water ratio is important depending on the food. I have a couple of other pickling recipes you can check out to see what I mean. I still need to do a kimchi post. Thanks for dropping by!
August 28th, 2012 at 7:31 PM
Sweet! I’ll take a look. Ah…the joys of kimchi! I get angry these days if the school cafeteria doesn’t serve it. I’m Koreanized now!
August 28th, 2012 at 10:17 PM
I feel you, I got completely addicted to it while I was there! I still miss all the food. I’m glad there are some decent Korean places around Seattle, but it’s just not the same.
August 28th, 2012 at 9:43 PM
I bet these are delicious!!
August 28th, 2012 at 10:25 PM
They are. I have extra jars if you care to try them!
August 28th, 2012 at 10:30 PM
Really?!? I would LOVE that!
August 28th, 2012 at 10:46 PM
Really
August 30th, 2012 at 11:44 PM
They look great, Sunny!
Lucky you had enough seedpods to pickle. I tried to grow them from seed and well I got no flower, no seed. Maybe it was too hot. Wish I could try them soon!
I love your canning and pickling posts. I made umeboshi this year.
Would you like some?
September 1st, 2012 at 3:14 PM
Hi MiYoung! I would LOVE some umeboshi! I’m happy to send you some capers, we made a whole bunch and they would probably ship ok if I seal up a jar for you. Email me your info and I can do it this week. Thank you for dropping by.
September 5th, 2012 at 6:11 PM
Wow so many pods! You are inspiring me to grow more nasties (that’s what we’ve always called them… they are not nasty at all but delicious in every possible way!) for next year’s garden. I had a variegated variety this year, gorgeous flowers and leaves. Thanks for stopping by nommynom today too! I enjoyed your comment and I’m going to enjoy haunting your blog in the future
September 6th, 2012 at 3:31 PM
Thank you Kelly! Nommynom was a pretty great find for me, I look forward to whatever you’re cooking up next.