I am not fond of vinegar that much but I quite like the balsamic and some flavored ones. Nasturtium is a flower that I was not aware of until last year when my neighbour introduced it to me. When they are in season we have used them in our salads and also made this nice colored/flavored vinegar. It is that time of the year and I gathered some of these edible flowers from the garden and set them to flavor the vinegar. The results is already visible — as I am typing this the vinegar color is already turning to red. But I will wait about 2 - 3 weeks before starting using it on the salads.

These flowers are edible as well, in case you have them in your yard. They go really good on salads.

I do not think there is a recipe for this but I have used about 350ml of white wine vinegar and 25 nasturtium flowers in bloom. After mixing these in a suitable size jar, close the lid tightly and store in a kitchen cupboard without any light and wait a few weeks before enjoying. At the end of that time period I am planning on making another post to show you how the color is changed. Don’t forget to strain the vinegar when you think it is done and ready to use.

There are some recipes from Turkey that are known to be associated with Gaziantep, a big city in southeastern section of the country. The most famous of all is the baklava. All around the country you can find baklava shops that claim to serve “Gaziantep baklavasi” meaning “baklava from Gaziantep.” This recipe is also from that region, and was brought to my attention from a fellow food blogger Mine from Germany. The way she described and photographed the salad was so mouthwatering — that is, if you like green olives to start with. She took the recipe from a cookbook written in German. I happen to have a “food from Gaziantep region” book at hand as well and the given recipe was exactly the same, so without any hesitation I set off to try this recipe over the weekend.  We grow all the greens used as ingredients which made it really easy for me to find the green garlic stalks.  Otherwise, I am not sure if one can buy them in the markets in US.  Maybe the farmer’s markets?
If you like green olives and bitter food, you might enjoy this recipe, too.
Ingredients:

1. 250 gr pitted green olives
2. 4 stalks of green oninons
3. 3 stalks of green garlic
4. a bunch of parsley
5. about 1/2 cup of roughly chopped walnuts
6. 1 - 2 Tbs pomegranate concentrate (available in Middle Eastern Stores)
7. olive oil
8. Salt, red pepper to taste

Finely chop the green olives, onions, garlic and parsley. Roughly chop the walnuts. Mix them well, add salt and red pepper to taste. Add pomegranate concentrate and olive oil and mix well. Cover and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. Serve along your favourite food.  Decorate with pomegranate seeds and enjoy!
Since pomegranate concentrate is used as a souring agent, if you have trouble finding it you can try substituting with lemon juice. They taste very different but can do the job. One makes the pomegranate concentrate by boiling the pomegranate juice down. Beware of the “fake” concentrates that you might find in the stores.