Nasturtiums are a one of the nicest flowers:1. easy to grow
2. smell great
3. cheerful flowers and pretty leaves
4. everything on 'em is edible
They grow easily from seed in any kind of container (chopped off milk carton? old plastic food constainer), just make sure there's good drainage AND they do better in poorer soil so you don't have to fertilize. Too-rich soil produces lots of foliage but no flowers.
The fun stuff: Blossoms have a sweet, peppery flavor similar to watercress--I often eat them as a snack while outside waiting for the school bus. Other ideas: stuff whole flowers with savory raw nut pate. Leaves add peppery tang to salads. Pickled seed pods are FertilityBitch cheap, raw, wild capers. Use entire flowers for garnishes at your fancy-schmancy dinner parties.
Since you should be drinking lots o' antioxidant-rich tea, here's a recipe for a yummy tea sandwich:
* handful of nasturtium flowers, washed, plus leaves if desired
* cashew cheese (see raw delicious recipe here)
or cream cheese (organic, please!)
* slice o' bread (many gluten-free breads available, usually in the freezer/fridge section)
Spread the cheese on the bread, gently press flowers on top, cut diagonally, finger-sandwich-wise, and you'll have a treat fancy enough for the Waldorf! The peppery + creamy flavor is really wonderful.
PREGNANCY NOTE: seed pods are used in herbal medicine as a weak menstruation stimulant. It's thus ingesting a few seed-pods isn't likely to cause any harm, but it's probably advisable not to eat handfuls...
No comments:
Post a Comment