We’re doing a new-to-us event at the farm today- Garlic Mustard Derby! Carol, the Sustainability Manager with the Town of Blacksburg last year hosted an event at Heritage Park aimed at ripping out this invasive weed. And I thought, what about adding a part of the day where we talk about eating it?
A little garlic mustard background. Did you know that garlic mustard is rapidly spreading through Heritage Park? This invasive plant can fast outcompeting native flowers, grasses, and shrubs that wildlife depend on for survival.
Garlic mustard is also edible, specifically when it’s young. It’s a leafy European herb with delicate young leaves that’s a member of the brassica family (includes broccoli, cabbage, turnips and mustard). The young leaves contain vitamins A, C, and beta-carotenes.
So what are the best ways to eat garlic mustard? I have been trying out some things in my kitchen this week, which I’ll showcase today at the farm.
Here are some tips from my experiences working with it this week:
- Garlic mustard is aromatic and garlicky– perfect to use as a flavoring herb when proper garlic is not ready yet.
- Garlic mustard is also BITTER. It’s flavor to me is reminiscent of strong arugula. Sometimes full-strength bitter greens is what you want in your dish. Other times you want a hint of the bitter and garlicky flavor with the heavy bitterness mellowed out somehow.
- Pinching off and using the smallest leaves in recipes will be milder than using larger, older leaves with tough stems attached.
- Blanching in salted water and then rinsing in cold water helped to mellow the bitterness.
- Blending it with creamy, fatty ingredients like the ricotta, olive oil and mayonnaise help mellow the bitter.
- Blending with sweet ingredients like the balsamic glaze or honey for a dressing also complements the bite
- A little goes a long way. The basis for the best recipes call for mincing in the food processor and then adding to other ingredients. I recommend adding a little garlic mustard at a time and tasting as you go to not overwhelm your dish and “ruin” it.
Here’s some insight on the recipes I tried out this week. The Forage Chef blogger is a good resource for garlic mustard recipes.
The recipes that came out best for me were the following:
- Garlic mustard ricotta (the best of the recipes)
- Garlic mustard pesto (when cut with half fresh spinach, half garlic mustard)
- Garlic mustard pesto salad dressing (basically the pesto then blended with balsamic glaze)
I also tried the following which were sorta good if you like bitter, but may be a hard sell to your everyday Jane:
- Garlic mustard stems sautéed in butter
- Green tender tops sautéed in smoked bacon fat
- Garlic mustard leaf+ stem “crisps”, basically cooked like kale chips
Join us today and try some for yourself!