Homemade Nasturtium Vinegar
Let’s make some spicy homemade nasturtium vinegar together. Peppery and vibrantly red, it’s a wonderful way to conserve the nasturtium flavor into the winter months. You only need three ingredients, a jar, and- the tough part- a week of waiting. Add to vegetables, dressings, sauces, and more.
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Nasturtium Flowers
Have you tried a nasturtium flower? They’re crisp and peppery, sometimes really quite spicy, and the perfect addition to any salad. The leaves and seedpods of the plant are edible too, with similar flavor. I’ve never seen nasturtium flowers for sale in a grocery store, but they are popular amongst home gardeners as they are edible, beautiful, and provide ground cover for other crops. They also attract friends of our gardens such as birds, bees, and butterflies. They come in different species, some which trail and climb, others that tend to be bushier. The colors range from the classic orange color, to red and lighter shades of yellows and cream colors, as well as darker purples and even shades of almost black. Add the leaves to salads- they have a peppery flavor and a hint of bitterness. Collect the seed pods and pickle them to use like capers.
They grow in a variety of conditions as an annual, although in warmer climates they may self-seed and come back perennially. In cooler conditions they are unable to resist frosts. They can survive in poor soil and in little sun. They are great to plant in beds with other plants as they can work to divert pests from your other crops. I am a terrible gardener, but even despite by complete lack of gardening skill some of my nasturtiums have managed to thrive.
Looking for Edible Flower Recipes? Try one of these!
- Daylily Flower Vegetable Lo Mein
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- Spring Stinging Nettle Pasta with Vegan Parmesan
- How to Make Quick Pickled Magnolia Petals
- Milkweed Mushroom Moo Shu
- Sweet and Simple Vegan Dandelion Bread
- July’s Peach and Daylily Salad
How to Make Homemade Nasturtium Vinegar
Life is easy- we are not making vinegar here, we’re just infusing it. For this recipe you only need three ingredients- nasturtium flowers, garlic and apple cider vinegar. You will also need a pint-sized jar and a fermentation weight or a clean stone to hold down the flowers. Remove the paper from the garlic and crush it. Add to the pint-sized jar. After your garlic, start packing in the nasturtium flowers, filling the jar and pushing to compress until your jar is half full. Add your weight and top of with the vinegar. Make sure to wait about 5-10 minutes after filling and fill again, as it will take a little while for the vinegar to permeate down through the petals.
Let it sit for a week, at room temperature and away from direct sunlight. The vinegar will turn a rich, beautiful red color and taste peppery, spicy, and garlicky. Transfer the vinegar into a container for storage. You can also eat the petals, which will have a great, pickle flavor. Add them to sandwiches and salads.
This recipe is super easy to make, but it does require a lot of nasturtium flowers. I think I used around 125 blooms to make this one cup of vinegar. Because of that I also made a batch that was mostly made up of leaves (the very leaves in the photos) with the addition of 10 or so flowers. The result was just as delicious, although the color was much lighter. Feel free to use leaves in the place of some of the flowers, but I would still recommend adding at least some flowers for color.
If you would like to use the label I made for mine, you can access it below. Just make sure you check the size of your container and the size you are printing the label to insure it will fit well.
Spicy Nasturtium Vinegar Label
Homemade Nasturtium Vinegar
Ingredients
- 1 cup nasturtium flowers, about 125 flowers, well packed (leaves are also fine, but the color will be less dramatic)
- 1 clove garlic, skin removed, smashed
- 1-1 ½ cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Gently rinse the flowers under cool water, and allow them to dry before proceeding. Pack the flowers into the bottom of a pint-sized canning jar, along with the clove of garlic. Use a fermentation weight or a small clean stone to keep the flowers packed down. Fill the rest of the space in the jar with apple cider vinegar. Wait a few minutes while the vinegar seeps into the gaps between the flowers, and top off with the remaining vinegar. Put a lid on your jar, and place in a cool, dark location.
- Let the vinegar sit for a week, during which time the flavor and color of the vinegar will be transformed from the nasturtiums. After a week drain the vinegar from the flowers and place it in an airtight jar or container, where it should be shelf stable for a good while. Use the nasturtium vinegar in dressings, on vegetables, in tofu marinades, and more. You can discard the petals, or use them in sandwiches and salads as a nasturtium pickle (although their shelf life is not as long as the vinegar).
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