Pickled Nasturtium Pods (Nasturtium Capers)

Sometimes called nasturtium capers, these pickled nasturtium pods are delicious and super easy to make from your own garden flowers. Perfect in salads and for adding that savoury sour note to lots of dishes.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• These pickled nasturtium pods taste very like traditional capers.
• You are making these almost FREE from the seed pods from the flowers in your own garden
• Nasturtium capers are super easy to make
• You can’t buy these in the shops so they are something just a wee bit different and make a great foodie gift too.

Nasturtium flowers are a super popular garden plant and they do spread like wildfire wherever you plant them.

All parts of the nasturtium are edible, from the beautiful flowers and leaves to the seed pods themselves. I love using nasturtiums in recipes and make a great fiery nasturtium hot sauce and nasturtium pesto to my summer chilled nasturtium soup to name just three.

Pickled nasturtium pods are often referred to as poor man’s capers.

Ingredients for pickled nasturtium pods

You don’t need many ingredients to make these delicious nasturtium capers so make sure you have good quality fresh ingredients to start with.

Nasturtium seed pods – These are the most important part of the recipe. Just pop out to the garden and pluck off those seed pods and you are good to go.

Vinegar – I am using cider vinegar to make my pickled nasturtium pods. You can use a white wine vinegar if you prefer but definitely don’t use malt vinegar as it is way too strong and a red wine vinegar would mean you’d be colouring the liquid but that’s up to you.

Dry ingredients – Salt and Pickling Spice which here in the UK we buy in jars in the supermarket but basically the ingredients for pickling spice are – allspice, bay leaves, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, ginger, mustard seeds, and peppercorns.

The complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making this recipe can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.

How to make nasturtium capers

Making these pickled nasturtium pods couldn’t be easier. Simply rinse and dry your nasturtium pods and pop them into a suitable jar.

Now you want to make your pickling liquid so pour the vinegar into a nonreactive pan along with the salt and pickling spices.

Bring this to the boil for 5 minutes.

Pour the hot pickling liquid along with the spices over the nasturtium pods in their jar and pop on the lid.

Leave this is a cool cupboard for 3 weeks to mature otherwise it is just a tad too nippy.

Once it has matured you will see that the liquid is darker and the nasturtium pods are more golden in colour.

How long do pickled nasturtium pods keep?

Your nasturtium capers will keep for up to six months, once opened store in the fridge and use up within a month.

How to serve nasturtium capers

Serve the pickled nasturtium pods just as you would shop-bought capers, add them to cooked dishes like my Sicilian Caponata or add them to salads and sauces too.

Looking for more great summer recipes from your garden? Then check these out before you go;

Homemade mint sauce

Nasturtium pesto

Sweet and sour pickled blackberries

Nasturtium summer soup

Rosemary and walnut pesto

Nasturtium hot sauce

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.