PRETTY DELICIOUS
NASTURTIUM (TROPAEOLUM MAJUS)
Other common names: Indian cress, monks cress
Parts used: Leaves, buds and flowers particularly for their peppery taste
Harvest and storing: Harvest flower buds, flowers and young leaves in the cool of the morning
Uses: Add whole flowers or petals to salads; add any part to stir-fries and pasta; flowers can be stuffed
Flowering plants are not only attractive, usually long-blooming and fast-growing, but their flowers, and sometimes leaves, can be edible. Some, of course, can also be used for medicinal or cosmetic purposes
The first recorded mention of the culinary use of flowers dates back thousands), rose and violet. Italian and Hispanic societies incorporated stuffed squash blossoms (zucchini flowers) into their cuisine and Oriental dishes included the use of daylily buds. Dandelions were one of the bitter herbs referred to in the Bible. And Chartreuse, a French liqueur made by the Carthusian Monks since 1737, is made of distilled alcohol aged with 130 herbs, plants and flowers, including carnation petals.
