Delicious plant to eat.

[hog]

Nasturtiums, I have discovered are tasty, just like horse raddish, so if you happen upon a plant waste no time and get stuck in, the unopened flower buds are particularly hot on the pallate.
http://www.herbalgardens.com/archives/articles-archive/nasturtiums.html

 

[Geoff Dann]

They are a multi-purpose plant. They are attractive to look at, good to eat and they are also very useful for keeping cabbage white butterflies away from your vegetables. The caterpillars will always end up on the nasturtiums in preference to anything else.

 

[hog]

Aaah then they must be treated as extra protein.

 

[Geoff Dann]

Aaah then they must be treated as extra protein.

The caterpillars are poisonous, as are most black and yellow stripey things with no other apparent defence. I wish you could eat them, because they are a major pest where I come from. Cabbage whites migrate each spring over the Channel from France, so there is a continual wave of them flying over the south coast. And they will destroy your cabbages, and anything else they take a fancy to. Their favourite is nasturtiums, though.

(ETA: I'm talking about large cabbage whites, not small ones.)

 

[squishy]

I grew some this year as I've always wanted to try the flowers. I had one when they first started flowering and I have to say I wasn't particularly keen on the taste, but nevertheless they are still useful for keeping bugs away from plants as others have said. They also add lots of colour to a veg plot which is a nice change from all the greenery we had

 

[mountainm]

The pickled green seed cases can be used like capers.

 

[slowworm]

The pickled green seed cases can be used like capers.

Yep, done that a few times and they're really tasty. Hopefully I'll get enough seeds from my plants this year to do some more.

I often eat the flowers and young leaves and added flowers to an omelet the other day and it really worked well.