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| Microgreens and larger leaves |
Garlic mustard is another wild, invasive green we like to cook with, creating familiar and original recipes in which to use this sometimes bitter, garlicky/mustardy plant. We encourage gathering and cooking as much as you can! The teeny sprouts that come up in abundance in the early spring are mild and can be used like microgreens in salads and on other dishes. The rosettes of leaves that grow next are tender enough to eat raw most of the spring, but will toughen and get more bitter as the season progresses. They can be quickly boiled and used like any other leafy green in recipes, whole, chopped, or pureed. We also like to eat the flower stalks that will shoot up in mid-spring from the second year plant growth, bearing clusters of white flowers. The thinner, triangular leaves
that grow from the flower stalk are very tender, and the unopened and opened flowers are edible as well, all with a garlicky-mustardy bite. In the summer, the seed pods will form, and we'll eat them as long as they are still green and flexible. After the seed pods dry out and turn brown, we gather the black, comma-shaped seeds quite easily in abundance. The seeds store very well, dried and in a jar, to use for dressings, topping breads, and grinding into fiery mustard all year. Finally, the roots can be dug up and grated into a horseradish-like condiment, with a touch of vinegar. While it is an annoying invasive plant in many areas, garlic mustard can be used as food during all points of it's two year life cycle. Use it simply, use it in complicated recipes, just use it!
Garlic Mustard Recipes:
Garlic Mustard and Cheese Ravioli
Garlic Mustard Seed Dressing
Green Felafels
Garlic Mustard Hummus
Garlic Mustard-Mustard
Garlic Mustard Roulade
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| Steamed garlic mustard seed pods and greens with butter |
