Nasturtium salad, leaves and flowers
A salad you eat with your eyes: the bright orange flowers of the nasturtium, with their peppery taste, light up the plate.
All of the nasturtium is edible: the young round leaves, as pungent as cress, and the flowers, milder and decorative. Rich in vitamin C, it brings a peppery note that advantageously replaces pepper. A colourful summer salad, grown in almost every kitchen garden.
Ingredients
- Nasturtium leaves and flowers2 handfuls of leaves + about ten flowers
untreated
- Mild green salad1 salad bowl
to soften the pungency
- Olive oil3 tbsp
- Mild vinegar or lemon1 tbsp
- Salt1 pinch
Steps
- 1
Gather
Harvest nasturtium leaves and flowers from an untreated garden, preferably in the morning. Gently rinse the flowers and let them dry on a cloth.
10 min
- 2
Assemble
Lay out the green salad, scatter with chopped nasturtium leaves, then set the whole flowers on top for decoration.
5 min
- 3
Season
Season with a mild vinaigrette just before serving, so as not to wilt the flowers.
2 min
Storage
To be prepared and eaten straight away; the flowers wilt fast.
How to use it
As a summer starter, or to decorate and lift a mixed salad.
Health properties
- Leaves and flowers are a good source of vitamin C.
- Traditionally reputed to be tonic; its pungent flavour comes from sulphur compounds (glucosinolates), close to those of cress.
These preparations belong to cooking and herbal tradition: they nourish and support, do not “cure” anything and replace no treatment. Ask a doctor or pharmacist before prolonged use, if under treatment, pregnant or breastfeeding, or for a child. Follow the stated storage precautions strictly.
Precautions
Strong flavour: to dose. As for any edible flower, only harvest untreated and well-identified plants. As a precaution, limit its consumption in case of kidney trouble (herbalist tradition).
Sources & tradition
- · François Couplan, *Le régal végétal* (nasturtium, Tropaeolum majus)
- · Kitchen-garden and culinary tradition