I’ve been volunteering at some of the metro parks and for one of my assignments I carried around a big trash bag and pulled up garlic mustard for two hours. It had rained earlier in the week, making the ground damp, which then made it easy to pull up this short-rooted weed. It's called garlic mustard because its leaves have a garlic smell when they're crushed. The park boss told us that garlic mustard is edible and she let us taste it if we wanted. The leaves taste like a cross of bitter mustard greens and garlic. Harvest it when it’s young, when it’s less bitter to add spice to dips, sauces, salads, and stir fries. It also makes a delicious pesto. I love pesto but didn't bring any garlic mustard home this time around, but now I know where to find it.
What is garlic mustard?
Garlic mustard, originally from Europe and Asia, has become a very troublesome invasive plant across the Northeast, Midwest and Northwest of the United States. The plant was introduced to North America in the mid 1800s for its herbal and medicinal qualities and as erosion control.
Its aliases are Poor Man’s Mustard, Hedge Garlic, Garlic Root and Jack-by-the-Hedge.
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