Make Your Own Pickled Nasturtium Buds

Published on Tuesday, June 23, 2009, by Joyce Slaton / Edit Post

As anyone who tries to eat locally soon finds out, condiments can be a sticking point. Finding locally-made salt is all-but-impossible in most areas, and good luck finding local black pepper or cardamom.

Capers are also nigh-on impossible to source locally. Made from the unripened flower buds of a plant that grows wild all over the Mediterranean, they travel a long way to get to your plate. But, unlike salt, there’s a great substitute that can flourish almost anywhere in North America: pickled nasturtium buds. I had a chance to taste some recently. Pickled in salty brine, they taste almost exactly like capers, but better: piquant, peppery, juicy. And they’re huge, about the size of a malted milk ball instead of a pea.

Summer is the perfect time to pick the buds, according to Sandor Ellix Katz, author of the book Wild Fermentation. Look for a crinkled, brain-like nodule at the base of bloomed-out nasturtium flowers. Pick them, soak them for about a week in a solution of 3/4 tablespoon of table salt for each cup of water, and use them in sandwiches, salads, pastas, and whatever else you’d use capers in.

ALLGreen
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  • The bud is green and at the end of a stem. It has a "tail" just like the flower has. The crinkled "brain-like" nodule is the seed which will, given enough time, fall to the ground and will grow or you can pick up and plant where you want. I have been growing nasties for years and find them easy and fun. Tonight is the first time I tasted the bud, flower and leaf. Added them to my salad and will...+READ

    The bud is green and at the end of a stem. It has a "tail" just like the flower has. The crinkled "brain-like" nodule is the seed which will, given enough time, fall to the ground and will grow or you can pick up and plant where you want. I have been growing nasties for years and find them easy and fun. Tonight is the first time I tasted the bud, flower and leaf. Added them to my salad and will try pickling the buds in the near future.-COLLAPSE

  • good tips, i will make it........

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  • They're not buds. The buds are triangular, with little spurs. As you wrote yourself, they're from the bloomed out plant. In other words, they're immature seeds. I tried brining them once and ended up tossing the whole batch. Bleh. But maybe I didn't do it correctly.

    I think growing a caper bush from seed would take a long time. The plants are hard to find, but are attractive and hardy to about...+READ

    They're not buds. The buds are triangular, with little spurs. As you wrote yourself, they're from the bloomed out plant. In other words, they're immature seeds. I tried brining them once and ended up tossing the whole batch. Bleh. But maybe I didn't do it correctly.

    I think growing a caper bush from seed would take a long time. The plants are hard to find, but are attractive and hardy to about 10 degrees F. If you don't pick all the buds, the flowers are lovely.-COLLAPSE

  • Park Seed Company sells caper bush seeds

  • Is it possible to grow the real thing? Any idea what the genus species name is? For starters.

  • better than capers? SIGN ME UP!

    questions:
    how long do they store after the week of brining?
    will they freeze? so we can enjoy the harvest all year?

  • oh I like this idea...