Dried Nasturtium and Nasturtium Capers

Not only are these nasturtiums beautiful to look at, but the flowers are edible, whether you use them fresh from the garden or dried.

Cut the flowers leaving a good length of stem so that you can tie them together.  But first run them under cool water to clean.  Very important! I actually found a little green worm hiding inside one of the flowers! Gently shake out the excess water and lay on a towel to pat dry.

Tie with kitchen string and hang to dry for a couple of weeks. Here they are in between the almost-ready-to-crumble mint.

Once dried like this

remove from stems and crumble the petals like this.

Store them for later use as garnish or mild peppery seasoning.

You can make Nasturtium capers too! Just go out into the garden and harvest the little green seed pods.

I started with a very small batch for my first attempt at capers but next year I'll be making a lot more of these pickled beauties!

1/4 cup Nasturtium seed pods
9 tbsps cold water (divided in 1/3)
1  1/2 tsp coarse salt (divided in 1/3)

1/8 cup white wine vinegar
pinch or 2 of sugar
bay leaf
thyme

Place the seed pods in a glass container and add 3 tbsps cold water to cover and 1/2 tsp coarse salt. Set aside uncovered for a day. It will be a bit smelly, like a mild rotten egg smell. I kept my capers in the garage because I was warned of this but it really wasn't that bad. Drain and rinse each day for 2 more days brining in water and salt each day for a total of 9 tbsps water and 1  1/2 tsp salt.

On the fourth day drain and rinse the pods then pack them gently into a jar.  Add a bay leaf and some thyme. Bring the white wine vinegar and sugar to a boil and add to the jar and seal. Process in a hot water bath for 1o minutes.  
So there you have it......FREE CAPERS!

And you can use the rest of the seed pods you gather to save and plant next year to start all over again. 

Here's a link for Nasturtium Vinaigrette:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2015/11/nasturtium-vinaigrette.html

You might also like to try this Chicken Marbella with capers:

http://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.ca/2013/11/chicken-marbella.html