This past weekend my boyfriend and I went for a walk to gather stinging nettle for dinner, and came across a large patch of young garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata) as well. One of best parts about picking garlic mustard as a wild edible is that it’s also incredibly invasive, like Japanese knotweed and autumn olive. So you’re doing the ecosystem a favor when you harvest it. In fact, one of my wild edible books describes garlic mustard as “universally despised by conservationists.” And, as an additional bonus, if eradicating invasive species wasn’t enough of an incentive for you to try garlic mustard, it is also very nutritious. Garlic mustard is higher in fiber, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E, and zinc than either spinach or kale. It also contains high amounts of calcium, iron and omega-3 fatty acids.

Garlic mustard is a biennial, meaning it takes two years to complete its life cycle. In the first year, it only develops a basal rosette of kidney- or heart-shaped leaves with toothed edges and a net-like veining pattern. In the plant’s second year, it sends up a flowering stalk that can be up to 2 1/2 feet tall. The unopened flower heads look like tiny heads of broccoli before opening to reveal clusters of four-petaled, white flowers in early summer. All aerial parts of the plant are edible, and depending on the time of year, different parts of this plant can be harvested from early spring to late fall. In areas with mild climates, the basal rosettes may persist through the winter and can therefore be harvested year round. 

I tend to target garlic mustard as a wild edible in the early spring when it’s found in only its basal rosette form, not the least of which because it’s one of the earliest wild edibles available on Cape Cod, and I’ve got a foraging itch to scratch after the winter. To harvest, simply pinch or snip off the leaves. Or, go ahead and yank the whole plant out of the ground. The latter will just leave you with a bit more processing to do when you get home. 

As we were collecting our container of garlic mustard leaves, my boyfriend and I were discussing how we were going to prepare it when we got home (ok, let me be honest – how he was going to prepare it – I am definitely not the chef in our household), and we decided it’d be fun to try and make a pesto. In the past we had just sautéed it up with other vegetables. Unfortunately, by the time we got home and looked up a handful of recipes, we realized we were missing pine nuts (or any other nut for that matter), and with the current state of grocery stores didn’t want to make a trip just for that. So we improvised. Here’s the recipe that we ultimately followed:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups of garlic mustard leaves (packed down)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese 
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients except the oil olive in a food processor until well mixed. When blended, add the oil slowly to the desired consistency. 

We then used it as a pasta topping, but you could use it however you would use a basil-based pesto. We will definitely try adding pine nuts or walnuts to the pesto next time. But even so, it came out good. My only other advice: add a little to your dish at a time. The flavor is strong and a little goes a long way.