Every April, for over a hundred Aprils now, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum has been ritually festooned with nasturtium vines. The museum's courtyard is a lush, surreal, artifact-strewn garden, and Bostonist spent an otherwise- rainy Monday afternoon there to watch as delicate vines were hung from the interior balustrades in anticipation of Mrs. Gardner's birthday on the 14th. (She'll be 169 years old.) Tended by Chief Horticulturalist Stan Kozak, each vine is fifteen to twenty feet of orange blossoms, historically-appropriate varieties, and painstaking cultivation.
A newer floral tradition is currently being observed in the museum's cafe, where nasturtiums will show up in the salad (and chamomile in the panna cotta) until the 19th.
The Gardner's web site offers some nasturtium recipes from Peter Crowley, chef & owner of the Gardner Café, including the following easy method of flavoring vinegar with your own flowers:
Nasturtium Vinegar
1 cup unseasoned rice wine vinegar
10 nasturtium blossoms
Simply steep blossoms in vinegar at room temperature in a closed container for at least one week. Strain and use as you would any light vinegar. Vinegar will be best between one and three weeks. The vinegar will have a mild peppery and vegetal aroma and flavor.
Hanging Nasturtiums will be on display until mid-April, Tuesday to Sunday, 11 am to 5 pm, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 280 The Fenway. Access to the courtyard is included in museum admission: $12 adults, $10 seniors, $5 students, and free for children under 18 and anybody named Isabella.
add to digg
add to stumble upon
add to reddit