Claire Mummery: Make your summer salad pop with this wonder ingredient

Almost all parts of the nasturtium plant is edible. Photo / Getty

This cheerful plant has lots of perks, and can even make a colourful addition to your Christmas salad.

Did you know that nasturtiums are truly a wonder plant? They can be grown on the outside of the veg garden or left to meander as they please, and the sheer magic of them is that they are beneficial, sacrificial and deliciously edible. Not only this, but almost all parts of the plant can be eaten.

Nasturtiums are easy to grow - you can either get some seeds, take a cutting from someone or buy a plant and just pop it in the ground. They aren’t fussy about soil quality and will grow in all soil mediums. They need a regular water through summer, but no feeding is necessary, or the plant will grow too many leaves and too few flowers.

As summer kicks off, nasturtiums are truly the wonder ingredient you need in your summer salad.

Harvest the small leaves and add straight into a fresh salad, which lend a slight peppery flavour. Harvest the bigger leaves to use as decoration on a plate or cheeseboard, or use them to make dolmades, as they tend to be slightly bitter. The leaves are high in Vitamin C and can even be brewed as a tea to soothe coughs or sore throats.

The bright and edible flowers are a visually stunning addition to any summer salad. They’re also great for the kids when walking around the garden to pick and suck out the sweet nectar.

I love to make a herbaceous compound butter with the flowers too - simply pick three tablespoons of chopped nasturtium flowers, and combine with a pinch of salt, unsalted butter at room temperature and a grind or two of black pepper. Place on wax or baking paper and roll into a log, then pop it in the fridge for half an hour before spreading on a slice of fresh crusty bread.

Even the stems of the nasturtium can be eaten and, when finely chopped, they add a flavour similar to that of chives, which can be great in the summer months when your chives are suffering from heat exhaustion.

As mid-summer arrives, you will see wonderful peppery pods appear on your nasturtiums. When eaten raw, they can be quite overpowering with their peppery flavour, but collect them up and pickle them to make a traditional recipe known as ‘Poor Man’s Capers’. They are truly delicious especially with any fish dish.

As the season gets hotter, your nasturtiums will act as a sacrificial plant in the garden, making a fantastic host for whitefly and aphids, drawing them away from your vegetables. As the plant becomes infested with these garden pests, it will start to die back and look a bit straggly.

It is best to leave it like this, as it is serving the purpose for this time in the season, and removing it will only encourage the pests to move into your vegetable garden.

There’s plenty to love about bright and delicious nasturtiums, so I hope you have a go at growing and tasting them this summer.

Claire’s Poor Man’s Caper Recipe

Ingredients

One jar full of nasturtium pods

A selection of your favourite herbs, roughly chopped (optional)

Apple cider vinegar

½ tsp sugar (optional)

Method

Collect your nasturtium pods over a few days until you have enough to fill a jar.

First, rinse your pods in cold water and then strain. Add them to your jar, along with your favourite herbs, or none at all if you like capers by themselves.

Add a half teaspoon of sugar to apple cider vinegar and heat on the stove to dissolve the sugar, allow to cool, then pour over the pods in the jar, enough to cover. You can leave the sugar out if you prefer a tarter flavour.

Seal and leave for at least 4 weeks in a cool dark place. Treat this like any good chutney - the longer you leave it, the better. After opening, store in the fridge.

For more gardening advice, visit growinspired.co.nz and discover Claire Mummery’s online gardening course at www.growinspiredacademy.com