I made this delicious Fennel Front Pesto to use up the all the beautiful fresh fennel fronds I had. Super quick and easy to make! Are you growing fennel and not sure what to make with all those beautiful fennel fronds? I grew fennel for the first time this year so I had to start figuring out what to make with the abundance of greenery after harvesting the fennel.
I often will portion out my extra pesto into ice cubes and freeze them in a container to preserve for future meals. Pesto is great to have on hand in the freezer to add to sauces, soups, quick and easy pasta sauce and even just defrosted as a dip for a cheese platter. Fennel Frond Pesto adds a fresh herbaceous flavour and saves buying dip in plastic containers!
Fennel Frond Pesto
Yield: 2 cups
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup Walnuts
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Distilled Water
2-3 cups Fennel Fronds
2 Garlic Cloves
2 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
Sprinkle of Salt to Season
Instructions
Wash Fennel Fronds and remove hard woody centre stem.
Place all ingredients EXCEPT Walnuts in a Nutribullet or food processor. Blitz until combined and fronds have broken up into small pieces.
Add the Walnuts and blitz to combine. If the mixture looks a little thick or dry add in an extra dash of water or olive oil.
Taste and add extra salt if needed and ready to serve!
Notes
If you want to preserve divide the extra mixture into ice trays and freeze. I use large Ice trays. Then once it has frozen place in an airtight, freezer-proof container until you are ready to use.
I use a Nutribullet or stick blender as that is all I have. They work well but that is why I split the walnuts and greens up as it takes longer to blitz the greens.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4Serving Size: 1/4 cup Amount Per Serving:Calories: 64Total Fat: 5.4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 72.5mgCarbohydrates: 3.5gSugar: 0gProtein: 1.7g
More about Fennel
Fennel is such a great addition to your permaculture garden. The bulbs provide plenty of food which can be eaten fresh in a salad, roasted or pickled. The leaves are a great addition to salads, soups and teas. It also has beautiful yellow flowers that have a mild liquorice/ aniseed flavour and are an amazing edible flower as well as to attract pollinators to your garden. Their big bushy fronds make a great haven for beneficial insects and they look beautiful in vases as cut greenery and flowers. They self-seed very well so you will have fennel growing for many years to come with very little effort!
Fennel Salad with Kumquat, Watermelon Radish and edible flowers.
I am always learning new ways to use, cook and preserve everything I grow. I want to maximise my harvests and I am doing that by continuously expanding my knowledge and recipe base. Fennel Frond Pesto is now added to my list and I will continue to explore new ways to use all the parts of the fennel plant. Join me over on YouTube for weekly videos as I continue on my journey to live a more Sustainable Lifestyle.
I made this delicious Fennel Front Pesto by swapping out the greens from my garden pesto recipe. It is a super versatile recipe to use up any extra herbs and greens from your garden.
Watch my video below to find out more about my favourite edible flowers.
What do you use Fennel Fronds for? Leave a comment below 🌿
Holly 🌱
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
If you have been following me for a bit you will know I have been on a Nasturtium recipe craze! One of the things I am trying to do is learn as many recipes as I can for things that I grow in my garden. It turns out Nasturtiums have a lot more uses than just a pretty edible flower!! My plants were getting a bit wild and overtaking the garden so I picked all the flowers and collected a whole bunch of seed pods to make Nasturtium Capers. This is a two-part process where I soaked the seed pods for 5 days before pickling.
INGREDIENTS
Jar of Nasturtium Seed pods
White Vinegar
Sugar
Mustard seeds
Dill leaves
METHOD
Part 1: Soaking – Wash the seed pods well with water and place in a jar filled with water. Leave to soak in the fridge for 2 days. Then rinse again and refill the jar with water and add a teaspoon of salt to make a brine. Leave to soak for another day or so. This process should help remove some of the bitterness from the seeds. After a few days in the brine rinse and leave in plain water while you prepare the vinegar.
Part 2: Pickling liquid – In a saucepan on a low heat add a jar (whatever one you are going to be pickling in) of white vinegar and then about 1/4 of the jar of water. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and I like my pickles sweet so I added 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Stir until the sugar and salt have dissolved. Taste and add more sugar or salt depending on your liking. Set aside to cool.
Wash your jar well with hot water to sterilise and add your seed pods and pick out any that don’t look the best or any leaves etc. I added a teaspoon of mustard seeds, small dill leaf and a sprinkle of chilli flakes. You could mix this up with whatever flavours you like.
Once the pickling liquid has cooled down add it to your jar and place in the fridge. I noticed from my research that they go brown once pickled so tried one batch with Nasturtium flowers added to it (on top pushed down into the liquid) and this turned out great with an orange pickling liquid. I removed the flowers at the end when I opened them to eat. I waited two weeks to try mine because I got busy but I’m sure after a few days to a week you could try them.
As these Nasturtium Capers are just a refrigerated pickle I would eat them within 3 months.
How to eat Nasturtium Capers?
These are a delicious accompaniment to most meals! Try served on an omelette, pizza, salad or with a fish dish.
Lettuce wraps with Avocado, Haloumi, Basil and Nasturtium Capers.
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
What to do with lemons?! Lemon and citrus season is in full swing and if you are lucky enough, you may be struggling to use up all your produce before it goes to waste. A great problem to have! Below are a few of my favourite ways to use up lemons. I love how the lemon season coincides with the flu season and lemons are a fantastic natural remedy, packed full of vitamin C for colds and flu! Nature really is amazing. If you have a ton of lemons, below are some great ways to preserve your lemons so you can use them throughout the year.
Fresh off the Tree
One of the best ways to extend your harvest is to leave them on the tree for as long as you can. As soon as you pick them they will start to ripen and deteriorate much quicker than if they remain on the tree. I love fresh lemons especially walking out to my garden and picking a lemon and cutting it up for a fresh cup of hot lemon water or in summer, iced lemon water! This is also the best way to get the most vitamin C as once you cook or dehydrate lemons, the Vitamin C levels reduce significantly. But there is only so much fresh lemon I can eat…
Gifting or Swapping
Gifting or trading your excess lemons is a great way to make friends with your neighbours! Your friends, family and work colleagues may also love some fresh lemons if they don’t have a tree at home. This can open up some great conversations and people may even start bringing and gifting their own excess produce.
Dehydrated Lemons
It’s winter and I love a hot water lemon drink in the morning to warm up! The only thing is that often I put the remaining half a lemon in the fridge and it will end up at the back of the fridge until it gets thrown out 🙁 So if I want lemon for my tea I pick a small one and put it somewhere front and centre so I can see it! This is why I love using dehydrated lemons because you can use a couple of slices as needed. Dehydrated lemons can also be used in baking, cake decorating, or finely chopped to add some lemony flavour to your cooking. They rehydrate once they get wet so they work quite similarly to fresh lemon but have a more caramelised flavour.
Lemon Zest Sprinkles
Zest the skins and dehydrate. Place in a jar and use in cooking and baking to as some lemony flavour!
Lemon Juice
You can then juice the lemons and freeze into ice cubes. Once the cubes are frozen, place into a container or freezer bag and label. These can be used in cold drinks, cocktails, cooking, baking and added to boiling water for a delicious hot lemon tea at just the right temperature! (can you tell I like lemon tea).
Citrus Cleaner
Ok, so you have now used the zest and the juice of the lemons, what do you do with the remaining flesh?! Place all the lemon scraps in a jar and fill with White Vinegar. Place in a dark spot in your pantry and leave for two weeks. You can then strain the liquid off and add the same amount of distilled water and you have a natural all-purpose cleaner. This is a great way to get the most out of your lemons with as little waste as possible.
You can also simply throw a few slices into your jug/kettle and add a few dashes of white vinegar and water. Simply boil the jug and then let it sit for 30mins. Rinse and clean. This will help remove the limescale and calcium build-ups on your jug.
Baking
Lemon slice, lemon meringue pie, lemon cheesecake. I’m not one for baking recipes but I have been doing some trial and error lately!
Roasted Lemons
In winter I like to make a roast vegetable salad because it’s a little bit more of a winter warmer but not too heavy. I chop up my root vegetables (carrots, sweet potato, beetroot, potato etc) along with some wedges of lemon and oven roast with oil and herbs. This is a great way to use up those half lemons in the fridge or some lemons that are getting too ripe. Once the vegetables are roasted I serve in a bowl of chopped up greens and top with feta cheese, pumpkin seeds, and aioli dressing. The roasted lemon wedges can then be squeezed on top and they add beautiful mellow caramelised lemon flavour.
Lemon Butter
Lemon butter or curd is heaven in a jar! This is a super luxurious and delicious way to use lemons and can also make great gifts! Enjoy on toast, pancakes, meringues or add to the centre of lemon muffins for a delicious surprise.
Other ideas
There are still so many different ways to use lemons that I haven’t tried yet. Here are a few below:
Marmalade
Lemonade!!
Preserved Lemons
Lemon cake
Limoncello
Let me know what you use lemons for in the comments below!
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS // Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
Delicious and beautiful Nasturtium Salt is a great way to add some fun and flavour to your meals. The beautifully abundant Nasturtium is back for the Autumn/ Winter season and this year I’m giving this humble plant time to shine! It is so often under-utilised and I will admit that previously I have only ever used the flowers and leaves in a salad and as a garnish. So I am on a mission to put together a series of recipes and tips to help you get the most out of your Nasturtiums.
Nasturtium Salt
Packed full of flavour, vitamin C and beneficial minerals, this Nasturtium salt is a magical addition to your pantry staples.
Ingredients:
Two cups/ handfuls of Nasturtium flowers and leaves
1 cup of Salt – I used a mix of Australian blossom salt and pink Himalayan rock salt
1 teaspoon lemon zest
Method:
Rinse and check Nasturtium for any bugs.
Blitz all the ingredients in a mixer, blender or NutriBullet until the leaves are all broken down.
Then spread on to a tray and dehydrate on low 30-40 degrees Celcius until completely dry. It will lighten in colour so if you break up any larger pieces and they are still dark green it needs longer. Mine took 3 hours in the dehydrator. You can use the Oven too if you do not have a Dehydrator.
Pour into a bowl or mortar and pestle and break up any larger pieces.
Place in a jar and you have a beautiful, nutrition-packed salt! I used the Pink Himalayan salt for added beneficial minerals. A mild peppery salt to enjoy on your morning eggs on toast and add a nutritious flavour boost to any cooking.
What ways do you like to use Nasturtiums? Another great way is these delicious Nasturtium Wrap – Recipe Here. Leave me a comment below.
Holly 🌱
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
It’s Lemon Season and nature times it perfectly with the start of the flu season. My lemon tree is about 5 years old and has really started producing decent crops this year. Part of my journey has been to learn different ways to preserve and use excess crops (as well as gifting extra to friends). I love dehydrated lemons as they not only look pretty on the shelf but they are also so easy to make and use.
How to make Dehydrated Lemons
Rinse lemons
Slice evenly – I use a mandoline to do this. It’s definitely worth it! I love mine.
Lay out the lemon slices on your dehydrator tray and turn the setting to around 60 degrees Celsius.
Dehydrate for 6-8 hours until the flesh is no longer sticky to touch.
Allow to cool and place into jars.
You can do this in the oven if you don’t have a dehydrator. It all depends on how thick your slices are and your oven type but I did mine at 60degrees celsius for 8-9 hours and cracked the door for the first few hours to let the moisture escape.
How to use dehydrated Lemons
This is a question I got asked a lot on Instagram. So here are some of the ways I like to use my dehydrated lemons.
Tea – Place a couple in hot water or green tea. I also add fresh mint or honey too.
Mulled Wine – I love a wintery mulled wine and adding these at the end makes it look and taste amazing!
Baking – I made a delicious lemon slice and cut the dehydrated lemons into quarters and placed on top for an extra lemony taste. You can also place in cakes and muffins and it will have a chewy texture so make sure they are small pieces.
Broken up into a Laksa soup – once the lemons rehydrate they are similar to a fresh slice so treat them as you would a fresh lemon.
The decoration on any cakes, baking, platters or fish meals.
Cocktails! or Mocktails. They make a beautiful addition and will elevate any drink.
What dehydrator do I use?
If you are looking to invest in a dehydrator I highly recommend keeping an eye out for a second hand one or borrow from a friend. They are the type of thing that people buy and don’t find enough things to make so it collects dust in the cupboard. Also, not all dehydrators are made the same…Some are super noisy and slow so make sure you look into the reviews before you purchase.
I have the Bio Chef Arizona 6 tray one and I love it.
Let me know in the comments below if you have made dehydrated lemons before and how you use them.
MY GARDENING ESSENTIALS //
Fertiliser spray gun: https://bit.ly/366nL1t
Retractable Hose: https://bit.ly/2TSC0Bo
More gardening tools: https://bit.ly/32IQmbD
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you! Thank you for supporting my page so I can continue to provide you with free content!
