Garlic mustard for salad, soups, herbal butter, pesto...
Alliaria petiolata, or garlic mustard
One more plant for
my salad, soups, herbal butter, pesto.
The name indicates the taste - garlic mustard. And the taste indicates it’s medicinal benefits. As I eat raw plants to retain health and strengthen my immune system, this is a proper one for me. So far I have not tasted the seeds. This year I will. I harvest only leaves, so that the seeds can develop.
It is one of the oldest spices in Europe. The scientists found evidence that it was used earlier than 4000 BC.
As far as I understand, it might have been downgraded to invasive plants in US, but that does not mean, that one cannot collect and eat it. The more one collects and eats, the less remains 😊
Comments
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It is very invasive here and people pull by the bags and dispose of it.
I try to keep it somewhat under control but will feed it to animals before I throw it away. I have made pesto from it but plan to broaden the ways I use it.
Yesterday while I was out looking at plants in my yard I munched on a few leaves.
Thanks @jolanta.wittib for posting this. Yesterday I had planned to take time and look up more uses for it. I
ll start with some herbal butter.
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a very good read
And the root is even edible!
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Fire cider
(garlic mustard used instead of horseradish)
Ingredients
>> 4 cups organic apple cider vinegar
>> 1/2 cup grated garlic mustard root (or horseradish root)
>> 1/8 cup garlic, chopped
>> 1/2 cup wild leeks, chopped (or chopped onions)
>> 1/2 cup of grated ginger
>> 1 tsp. fresh grated cayenne
Instructions
Place all ingredients in a 4 cup mason jar and fill with apple cider vinegar (not all 4 cups of the vinegar will be used) leaving some space. Be sure all ingredients are mixed well. Cover.
Steep for 8 weeks in a dark, cool location.
Strain into clean jar then store in a dark location up to one year.
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I was fascinated by being able to use the roots ( I am allergic to horseradish so if this is a good alternative thats great. I will be trying this later today since my wild mustard is out of control. Not that I am complaining.
https://www.botanicalartspress.com/blog/2015/4/18/garlic-mustard-root-horseradish
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@Denise Grant Wow!!! Thank you for all this additional information. I did not know that the roots are good as well! I will use it for much more than just adding to salads and sauces. I did know that it is that invasive in US.
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@jolanta.wittib I am quite excited to try the roots too. I'll dig some today
Yes, its very invasive here. I could go out in my backyard and harvest 8 garbage bags with no issue and no time. But I use it and try to remove flowers so they don't seed. (but this year I will let some seed to try the seeds)
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@jolanta.wittib thanks for posting. I was not aware of this plant.
@Denise Grant thanks for the recipe that this plant can be substituted for horseradish. Horseradish is hard to find where I live. Since it can be invasive I'll have to figure out a good place to contain it before I decide to grow it.
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@annbeck62 The plant spreads by seed so when you see the white flower cut it off and use it. If you just cut it off it needs to be burned to destroy the seed. I am going to collect some seed this spring but will make sure I don't drop any. I'll probably bag the flower just to make sure.
I lulled some roots this morning. I am looking froward to trying them. I'll have to see what all uses they use them for
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@Denise Grant let me know how you liked the roots and how did you prepared them.
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That is one I've never found - would love to try it!
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Same here--it's supposed to be an invasive in Missouri, and I've looked for it, but never found any around here...still looking.....
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@judsoncarroll4 @MaryRowe the plant, most probably likes milder temperatures. I had to get it from my friend’s garden - her house is 50 height meters lower than mine and she has plenty of garlic mustard. I have much fewer than she.
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I'll have to go out scouting for some. It is considered invasive in my area, so I'm sure no one will mind if I harvest it.
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@judsoncarroll4 it is funny that one has to look for invasive plants 😊
one of my herbal friends asked me to give her some ground elder plants. It is the most popular (and hated by many) weed here, but she does not have it in her harden and, as she attends my workshops, she wants to add it regularly to her salad. Well, I am happy to share. She will help me to eat it out, before it spreads too much in my garden.
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You all have me intrigued. Garlic mustard doesn't grow in my area, at least, not yet. I have checked and it seems to be hardy to zone 4. I am 3b/4a so it may or may not survive the winter.
My plant atlas says is grows (not native) in south coastal BC but isn't common. I can't say that I have ever seen it. However, it does indicate that there are a few plants that seem to have escaped cultivation in Juneau. Despite being in Alaska, it is right on the coast, so moderate temps and lots of rain.
So it may work for me but I can't seem to find any seeds for it. If anyone has any suggestions on a seed company, I would appreciate the info.
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I don't really believe in "invasive weeds". I always ask about them versus native plants, "native to when?" We consider native plants those that where here before European colonization. But, those plants all came from somewhere, seeds spread by wind, clouds and rain, birds and Native Americans when they came here thousands of years ago. I just focus on growing useful plants. THe ornamental grasses grown here in lawns are what is not native and invasive, in my opinion.. they just found a way to make humans do the dirty work!
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@judsoncarroll4 I have a similar feeling towards “invasive plants”, although, sometimes, some plants take over a habitat of other plants. But, when in wild, nature, somehow, manages to balance the spreading and one day these new plants get a natural enemy who would feed on it. Or it is me, who would eat it 😊
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@torey we have very harsh winters here and it survives, however, does not spread a lot. It does like milder climates.
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The main one here that is really and issue is kudzu. But, if more folks knew it was edible, protein rich leaves, flowers good for wine and jelly, root is good medicine, useful for fiber and an excellent hay for animals, it would be a managed asset. Wisteria though, is just as invasive and destructive. But, it is considered an ornamental and sold at garden stores!
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Just came across this article in National Geographic--not sure whether you can read it without a subscription, but I think you can if you just ignore the subscription pop-up. Anyway, it's got some interesting points, but overall is rather frustrating--the author seems like he can't quite decide whether to be afraid of garlic mustard in particular and the natural world in general, or to embrace it.
He frets about the plant's roots excreting chemicals that kill the mycorrhizal fungi in the soil hat native plants rely on to draw nutrients, but cites a study claiming that over time microbes accumulate in the soil that end up killing mot of the garlic mustard. Some native butterflies lay their eggs on garlic mustard, but the larvae die from eating it. Yes, humans can eat it, but it produces "significant amounts of hydrogen cyanide," which can be reduced by soaking or cooking....It seems like he picked out all the scary stuff he gleaned from the scientists and made it a bit scarier, but then at then end admits the plant is quite tasty and loaded with vitamins C, E, and zinc.,,,,
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@MaryRowe Thank you for this very interesting article. Well, we get much more poison from supermarket “innocent” salad, than from a wild plant like this. It is neither sprayed against pesticides, herbicides, nor over fertilised, nor sprayed with whatever to keep longer and crispy, nor has micro plastic particles from packing material...
and, as Paracelsus said: “the dose makes the poison”.
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@judsoncarroll4 I did not know anything about kudzu, thus I read a bit on the internet. It is a very useful plant as food for people and animals, as medicine, for making baskets, for erosion...
well, again, one can eat it out or use it as medicine or ... rather than using poison to destroy it. The food or Pharma industries should react faster to spreading of such “unwanted” edible and medicinal plants and collect natural ones growing in nature where they are not wanted rather than growing these plants as mono cultures somewhere else.
And it is always a human being behind all these interference thinking that he/she knows best how to regulate nature. The nature knows best and will always find the way if human being allows it.
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A man named Channing Cope tried. He was a horticulturalist in Georgia in the 1920s-40s. At that time, whereas the midwest had been blowing away in the "dust bowl", the south was washing away, all doe to common, and often mandated, agricultural practices. He advocated kudzu as a means to hold the soil against erosion and feed livestock. He didn't even know about its other uses. His book, Front Porch Farmer was fantastic. Unfortunately, the government took his idea of using kudzu to prevent erosion and planted it all over road sides and river banks with no natural means to keep it in check... it became, "the vine that ate the south"! Cope got all the blame and died disgraced and alcoholic. He was a good man who deserved better.
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@judsoncarroll4 another interesting story! You are a real encyclopaedia!
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Nah... Cope is just a hero of mine.
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@Denise Grant Thank you for the recipe!
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@Denise Grant ok, I am really excited about trying the roots. It is hard to find fresh horseradish around here, and it'll probably be in sad shape if you do find it. It would be awesome to make an all locally grown fire cider.
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@blevinandwomba I plan to try the fire cider too
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Sounds like a plant I need to get to know. Well, know better, because it grows here too. I just haven't really paid it any attention. Not the most invasive of weed in my garden.
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@marjstratton it is quite a sharp herb. I hope you like it.
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