WEEKEND HERB BLOGGING WITH NASTURCIUMS…the pretty edible flower!!
“In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.”
William Blake
Weekend herb blogging with flowers & herbs!
Summer is almost beating down on us & we harvested the last of the nasturtiums over the weekend. The garden was literally over-run by these very pretty & hardy flowers.
Even a bunch of caterpillars visited to enjoy the leaves…they chomped their way through an entire flowerbed overnight!!
The burst of colour has now gone…but I have a fine bunch of pressed flowers & leaves, & seeds collected for next year.
Ever since I read online that nasturtiums are edible flowers (their leaves too), have been keen to throw them into a salad. These pretty flowers are said to have a peppery taste & do well in salads & stir-fry’s. Not sure if they added much to taste, but certainly made the salad worthwhile with visual appeal & Vitamin C! I served individual portion on nasturtium leaves … even the boy willingly tried a bite if only to prove he could chomp a ‘flower’ (no thumbs up though)!! Basil is universally loved in our house & I have more basil in my corner patch than I can handle. I use basil everyday…even in flower vases for centre-pieces!!
Here’s my bowlful for my Spring salad…
…Tomatoes, basil, grapes…& nasturtiums!!
Nasturtiums, Tropaeolum majus, are simple and pretty trailing flowers with bright rounded green leaves. They look perfect bunched on the top of an elegant cake iced in white or chocolate and they add a feeling of festivity (as flowers often do) to a mixed green salad of arugula, sorrel, mesclun and spinach. Both the leaves and the flowers are edible and they have much more Vitamin C than plain lettuce as well as a slight peppery flavour. Check out this post at Edible Tulip … an interesting blog.
Just chop everything up, toss in a light vinaigrette,
place on individual nasturtium leaves…
…& serve up a ‘BURST OF COLOUR’!! This post is headed to Susan @ The Well-Seasoned Cook who is the host for this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging. Weekend Herb Blogging is an event created & popularised over the past 2 years by Kalyn @ Kalyn’s Kitchen. Entries can be recipes and/or informative posts featuring any herb, plant, vegetable, or flower.
Some trivia …The nasturtium is a vining plant that produces red, orange and yellow edible flowers. It has a peppery flavor and is great for additions to salads or a stir fry. Nasturtium is often called water cress, or Indian cress in some places.
Did You Know?
Did You Know?
1. All parts of this plant are edible.
2. It was often used for blood cleansing when it was first introduced to Europe in the late 1600s.
Some other posts where I have used the nasturcium flower (crystallised)
Deeba @ PAB
About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.
14 Comments
Manggy
That is a gorgeous presentation Deeba! I hope to someday be brave enough to use flowers in my cooking (well, we have an entirely different set of flowers here 🙂
Passionate baker...& beyond
Thanks Manggy…better to begin chomping a few safe ones to figure out the taste!! With age comes bravery…you’ve got a looooooooong way to go!! He he!!
Passionate baker...& beyond
Thanks Manggy…better to begin chomping a few safe ones to figure out the taste!! With age comes bravery…you’ve got a looooooooong way to go!! He he!!
Ben
It’s so pretty I don’t want to eat it :-p And it is so colorful, too. Oh so beautiful 🙂
Rosie
What wonderful splashes of colour Deeba, it shines through of summer. Beautiful – beautiful !!
Rosie x
Cakespy
Perfect way to bring spring in–celebrate the earth by eating its bounty–literally! Lovely color and sounds like some lovely flavors!
Tellmehowyoueat
Very good way to be happy all day long with you’re so delicious and healthy salad! I’m so curious to know how your flower taste in the salad, if it’s a pepper or a sweet taste! Deliciously sunny!
Passionate baker...& beyond
Thanks Ben & Rosie.
Hi Cakespy..I’d go as far as flowers in the salad but probably not as far as brocolli in the cake!! You literally take the cake!! Ha ha!! That was a brilliant post.
Tellmehowyoueat…hi…no discernable taste really. Neither peppery/nor sweet I think; just pretty,colourful & full of Vit C!!
Passionate baker...& beyond
Thanks Ben & Rosie.
Hi Cakespy..I’d go as far as flowers in the salad but probably not as far as brocolli in the cake!! You literally take the cake!! Ha ha!! That was a brilliant post.
Tellmehowyoueat…hi…no discernable taste really. Neither peppery/nor sweet I think; just pretty,colourful & full of Vit C!!
Purnima
Woah..Nast what..hee..flowers surely have some names!! Cry what..LOL..rgd-less of names, they surely splurge color to the yum dished out by you!!
Susan
Thank you, Deeba, for this charming post. I sometimes see nasturtiums at my markets, but they are always a little wilted. I think shoppers are afraid of them. ; )
Ivy
The only flowers I have eaten were made into spoon sweets, roses and orange blossoms. I have never heard of this flower and don’t even know if it grows in Greece but it looks beautiful.
Bellini Valli
Nasturtiums have a subtle flavour but they make such a beautiful addition to a salad:D
Kalyn
Wow, so colorful and beautiful. I’d love to try it.