I love eating capers and, despite trying on a number of occasions, I have never managed to grow them here in the UK. However, several different people have told me that it's possible to make an alternative to capers by pickling the seeds from our own nasturtium. As I have nasturtiums growing all over my plot that normally seed like crazy I decided that I could afford to sacrifice a few of their seeds to an experiment in pickling.
First stage of the process is picking the seeds. You need to take these off the plants when they are fresh and green. Try to take the ones that are as young as possible. Certainly avoid any that have already fallen from the plant as the likelihood is that they are already too old and tough to be pickled.
Once they have been thoroughly cleaned your seeds need to be soaked in brine for 24 hours. To make the brine you need to add 50g of salt per pint of water - you will need to make enough brine to cover all the seeds that you have cleaned.
After this your seeds need to be rinsed and packed into sterilised jars and covered with boiling spiced vinegar. I spiced my vinegar using garlic gloves, pepper corns and bay leaves but there are plenty of other options out there - take your pick based upon your taste preference. As soon as the seeds are covered the lids of the pots need to be sealed. Then all that you need to do is leave the jars for three weeks to mature then they're ready to eat. It really is as simple as that!
My first batch are just about ready so I'll let you know what they're like as soon as I've tasted them.
Very informative. I will try making my own batches. Wish me luck.
Posted by: Irene @ SmilingGardener | August 31, 2011 at 06:08 PM