We all love the happy colors and peppery flavor of nasturtiums flowers and their leaves, but have you ever considered their seedpods? Neither did I until last summer when Richard Stewart of Carriage House Farm introduced me to the potent flavor packed in their clustered tiny seedpods, and this year, Kate Cook introduced me to those seedpods pickled, apply called Pickled Nasturtium Capers, or poor man’s capers.
Capers, as we know them, are actually the flower buds of the caper plant, and the large seedpods are called caper berries. But hey, take a taste of a pickled nasturtium seedpod and tell me that you don’t find them remarkably similar.
I posted an image on my instagram feed from a visit to the Northside Farmers Market last week of these beauties and had more than a few people ask for a recipe. This one is from a recipe shared on The Splendid Table who also shares that “Nasturtiums usually don’t start forming seedpods until late in the summer and you have to search for them. You’ll find them attached to the stems underneath the foliage, where they develop in clusters of three. Pick only young pods that are still green and soft. When they mature, they turn yellowish and the seed inside the pod is very hard and unpalatable.”
To use them, spoon out a few seeds and chop them up finely. You can add them to any dish where you’d typically use traditional capers — pastas, sauces, salads, dressings. A little goes a long way!
Recipe:
Adapted from The Herbfarm Cookbook by Jerry Traunfeld (Scribner 2000). Copyright 2000 by Jerry Traunfeld.
Categories:
SidesVeganVegetarianWinter
Total time: 6 Days
Yield: Makes 1/2 cup
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup green nasturtium seedpods
- 3/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 fresh bay laurel leaves, or 1 dried
- 2 3-inch sprigs fresh thyme
Instructions
1. Bring the salt and water to a boil in a small saucepan.
2. Put the nasturtium seedpods in a half-pint glass jar and pour the boiling brine over them.
3. Cover and let them soak at room temperature for 3 days.
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 3 days before using. They’ll keep for 6 months in the refrigerator if covered in the vinegar.
