Nasturtium Love

Love, love, love Nasturtiums....Kapuzinerkresse :).

Their beautiful bright flowers and green hued leaves are not only a treasure for the eyes, they are YUMMY. I planted a ton of different varieties, and now they are becoming aboundant. Once in bloom, the blossoms wilt fairly quickly.

So what's a witchy girl to do? Eat them!

I have been putting the blossoms in our salads or as a pretty garnish forever, but now I am going to try some of the recipes from my books, or you can google "Nasturtium Recipes".

Nasturtium Butter
12-14 blossoms
2-4 leaves
1 stick of butter, softened
1 clove of garlic (optional)
Lavender (optional)

Pick petals, wash, and check for critters. Dry. Chop petals and leaves. Mash garlic, if you use it. I have very strong chives in my yard, so I use those instead. Chop flowers into butter (think Cold Stone Creamery). I put in a little lavender, since I have it, and I love it :).

Put in jar (I used a 1 pint jar), sprinkle with lavender, put in fridge. 1 stick of butter fits nicely in a jar if you don't pack it down. I like it "fluffy", so the flowers don't get smashed. If you pack it in, you can probably do 1.5 sticks, just add more flowers accordingly.

Enjoy!

Scenes from my backyard & recipe : Nasturtiums

Nasturtiums have always been a favorite of mine :). I remember vast walls of old bridges or houses covered with them. When I was a child, I swore these were all enchanted....

Now I have a few varieties in my backyard, they are planted to and fro. The first ones to bloom are the Red Empress. In their honor, I made a salad with them tonight :). Enjoy!





Cucumber Garden Salad

2 large cucumbers (mine are not ready yet, thank Goddess for the Farmer's Market :)...)
I used one Armenian and one long English
A variety salad
Sour Cream
Mustard powder or regular Dijon
dill

Slice cucumbers in fine slices. Sprinkle generously with salt and set aside to "pull" water. Once you see a good amount of water drawn from the cucs, drain. Dollup with a few BIG wooden spoonfuls of sour cream :). Stir. You will notice a nice frothy sauce forming. Season with mustard, pepper, and dill.

Wash and dry salad.

Mix with cucs.

Put on plates and garnish with Nasturtiums (which have a slightly peppery taste).

Serve & Enjoy!