Oddbean

Plant Spotlight: Nasturtium - Bullying the jews With a Good, Old-Fashioned Nose Twister Remember holding down the jewish kid and giving him nose twisters in High School? Me neither, but I should've. I guess it depends on what you're talking about. If you were giving him nasturtiums you might make him live longer. I really thought I wrote about this plant on here already, but I noticed a number of questions when I poasted about harvesting them last night, like "what are they good for?" and I see a few questions in this group asking about antibiotics. You're in luck, frens, because we're going to talk about my favorite natural antibiotic, another plant that is pretty to look at, edible, medicinal, great for companion planting, and just all around awesome. So what the fuck is a nose twister? Unlike many plants I write about, this one was brought back to Europe from the jungles and highlands of South America by the Spanish Conquistadors in the later 1500's. British growers first started calling it "Indian Cress" (because this was still India back then) due to its similarity with Watercress, another plant I've poasted about. Well, botanists thought it had a very unique and pungeant peppery and spicy fragrance (it also tastes vaguely peppery, like Arugula, but different) that twisted up your nose. So while it wasn't directly used to bully jews, it certainly evokes imagery of it, and for that, we are thankful. This plant quickly became a favorite in European gardens, one of the first New World plants to do so, and rocketed into popularity after Louis XIV chose to display them in the gardens at the Palace of Versailles. It has whimsical leaves that look like lily pads and flowers the color of the sun to warm your heart. Ironically, colonists brought it BACK to North America a couple hundred years later, with well known botany enjoyer Thomas Jefferson making sure they found a home at Monticello. They first sold the seeds as an edible in 1803. They have been prized for their medicinal properties since their "discovery" (and to the people of South America long before), but also their culinary uses. During WWII some brits even ground the seeds and used them as a substitute for Black Pepper when it was in short supply due to global turmoil. Nasturtium is a vining plant that will continue to cascade outward and climb across competition if you give it enough nutrients. I plant mine in between other plants that I want to keep pest free, and it does a decent job at keeping the pests away, as far as any companion plant does, anyway. This year I had it climbing all over my peppers and currant tomatoes, and the only thing you have to watch is that it doesn't get TOO big and choke things you want out. Okay, enough about the history, why do we grow it? Medicinally, it's antiseptic, antiviral, antibacterial, and my favorite usage is for the lovely natural antibiotic that it makes. It's great for treating everything from staph infections, respiratory infections, to UTI and genital infections. Recently a friend of mine got an infected knee at work, blew up and he couldn't walk right. I found out he went to one of those tiny hat doctors, they gave him two different antibiotics, and he still wasn't getting better. I deduced he probably had a staph infection, sent him home with bags of nasturtiums (and several other herbs, taught him how to make a yarrow poultice and a nasturtium tea) and within a few days his pain and swelling were gone and he was back to work. This also works on animals. It's good food for them, and it can cure infection. If you want to be sure they're getting it, make a tea, and give it to them with a syringe or drench gun. My cat had an abscess the size of a golf ball from getting bit by something outside. Vet wanted to cut it open, fuck his face up real good like. Gave him baby medicine droppers full of nasturtium tea three times a day for three days and it vanished. No surgery required. Take that Dr. Shekelberg. Long story short, I've been using this effectively as an antibiotic for a long time. It works. Both flower and leaves are edible usable medicinally, typically the plant will produce a lot more leaf than flower, but it's all good, I just dry them together or eat them fresh together when it's the season. The flowers can be used as a pigment to give food that saffron color. Culinarily, it's tasty, with that peppery flavor we already mentioned. Goes well in salads and sandwiches. People cure the flower buds in vinegar like capers. It's dense in Vitamins A, C, and K, packed with Iron and Manganese, so you don't have to wait until you're sick to enjoy it. t does have a unique flavor, but you get used to it, and it's so easy to grow you'll have plenty to enjoy. So what are you waiting for? Bring a bit of colorful cheer into your life, and kill the microscopic jews that may ail you. Twist up their noses a little bit. Give this chlorophyll enjoyer a place in your life, and heart. https://cdn.nicecrew.digital/a37685e1d39cb2a14bd03490a074ab0f91a16d9eff5375860e4ca6759f413eb9.png https://cdn.nicecrew.digital/4ad1f33b7ec67adcf2ad2d8084ed31d1b3e8123d7392b9478d7522b292580b8b.png https://cdn.nicecrew.digital/064717d8dbe098c0550d99c09cfdb9f08c942db22cf0c79d78dfcaa0b4d23ba7.png https://cdn.nicecrew.digital/06761407a73769da2638da7acdf836166deccb2c314d44bab349edd833fb273f.png