Nasturtiums - The Prolific Edible Flower That Seems To Grow On Spite!

August 14, 1:56 PMSeattle Garden & Kitchen ExaminerJerry & Kristy

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             Nasturtiums growing in our garden

  When we first planted our little nasturtium plant, we never could have imagined just how prolific it would turn out to be. This is one amazing little plant! Not only does it seem to be pest free, it draws in both hummingbirds and bees so it is a great addition to vegetable gardens. Thing is, it seems to multiply so fast; we can’t keep up with it!

Last year, this single plant spread throughout the garden to the point we had to thin it every couple of weeks. Oddly, once it was pulled, it continued to grow and even bloom again. This gave me the idea of taking the thinned plants and stashing them into the front part of our woods and the side greenbelt areas. The nasturtium plants grew a bit more and soon went to seed. We kept a few of the seeds and then tilled the rest into the soil. The ones in the soil came back this year and are spreading just like they did in the garden. They are wonderful for greenbelts as they add wonderful jewel colors into the area, without any work by us!

Some nasturtium seeds must have gotten tilled under in the garden as well since the plants started popping up and then taking over the garden! This is both a good and bad thing as it grows so fast it is hard to use it all but on the other hand, nasturtiums are wonderful to eat.

The Nasturtium Leaves and Flowers

First off I want to say that all of our gardens are organic and therefore, I know they are 100% chemical free. If you have not grown the nasturtiums yourself, know your source - the last thing you want is to ingest a bunch of pesticides! Once you have secured a safe source, it is time to start enjoying the wonderful, edible nasturtium!

The leaves have a bit of a peppery taste (think watercress) and are great when added to a salad or used on a sandwich. We used them whole in mixed green salads and chopped in potato, tuna and pasta salads.

The flowers are extremely versatile with some recipes using just the pedals, others used the flower: either keeping it whole or chopping it. Cut up nasturtium flowers provide a nice addition of color. I like to use it in butter and mayo spreads that are applied on grilled fish or baked chicken. They are also nice added to tuna or crab salad and then used in stuffed tomatoes and open faced sandwiches.

Nasturtium pedals and flowers can be floated in chilled soups, punch bowls and cold drinks. Another nice way to add them to drinks is to freeze them into ice cubes, which preserve the bloom and after melting, they can be eaten. Whole nasturtium flowers on top of custards and sorbets are a nice touch as well as baked goods. Cakes and cupcakes are easy to decorate by placing a fresh whole nasturtium flower on top of the frosting.