On air on bayfm 99.9 community radio Byron Bay on 3 September 2012

 

Ros's nasturtiums looking pretty on a rosy wall - photo Ros Elliot

 

A big thank you to sister Ros for doing belly today.  I think I’ll start colour – coding the bellysisters, last time Ros talked about lovely pink hued guavas, this time she shared her way with straberry jam.

See this link if you would like to try

http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/1426/simple-strawberry-jam.aspx

 

Ros also talked about nasturtiums, great things to grow if you have black thumbs.  And all edible.

See

http://www.herbalgardens.com/archives/articles-archive/nasturtiums.html

 

 

 

A big thank you too to Diane Hart who was listening to Ros and emailed us to contribute her pickled nasturtium seeds recipe.

 

PICKLED NASTURTIUM SEEDS (FALSE CAPERS) – by Diane Hart

I love capers in pasta, salads and sauces but, I don’t like the fact that they are imported and expensive. Capers are the buds of the caper bush (caper-berries are the fruit) and grows readily in Mediterranean countries – mostly out of rock walls. It has a very pretty flower, but you hardly ever find a plant with lots of buds and flowers as they are harvested by the locals and pickled in brine at home – it’s a fairly laborious process. They say that necessity is the mother of invention so I was very happy to come across this recipe for ‘false capers’ in a book of early Australian cooking that is over 150 years old. They don’t taste like capers – they taste like pickled nasturtium seeds, but they are surprisingly good and are a fantastic substitute.

After the blossom falls off, pick the half-ripened (still green) nasturtium seeds. Continue picking as long as the seed crop continues. Drop them in a boiled, strained and cooled mixture of:

500ml white wine vinegar

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1/2 lemon, thinly sliced

1 clove garlic, smashed

10 peppercorns

1/2 teaspoon fennel/dill seed

 

Simmer ingredients together in saucepan, cool and strain into sealable jar. Add nasturtium seeds. They will be ready to eat in a couple of weeks or so and will keep in the fridge for up to a year. They are ready to eat when they sink into the liquid. You can keep adding to the liquid pickle mix as you pick the seeds – how easy is that?

 

Check out Diane’s blog at: