How to use garlic mustard in recipes.

Hello there! I've seen a lot of garlic mustard in my gardens lately. I'm looking for sustainable ways to remove the weeds from my gardens and use them daily for food instead of wasting them. Any recipes for them in the European settlers did centuries ago? And could we eat them as greens? Please reach me if you all need me. Out!

Michael Phillips in 'Mycorrhizal Planet' wrote: ...nothing beats being able to eat your problems. Garlic mustard is a choice edible plant in its own right. A little olive oil, a little salt...and the mycorrhizal network gets back on track.

What's happening Rachel! Like that idea. Any more ways to combat the spread of garlic mustard from going further in our gardens?

We had garlic mustard at our last house. I miss it! It was a big hassle when I thought it was just some obnoxious weed, but once I realized it was edible, I had a hard time keeping it growing. We ate it in salads and made kimchi from it.

Very good! I was wondering if we could use some in stir fries and soup. Any recipes for garlic mustard in stir fries? I'd like to try some in near future.

I'm not sure if I ever added it to stirfry, though it's pretty likely. Whatever your normal stirfry routine is, just add some garlic mustard leaves (not stems) and it'll all work out.

I recently made garlic mustard gundruk by washing, draining, chopping, kneading, sealing in a jar, fermenting for a few days, and then laying out to dry. Since it is a rainy climate here, it is not as easy to leave them out to sun wilt, which is why I have kneaded them instead. It turned out quite good. (Unfortunately I broke a jar trying to stuff too many leaves in and ruined one batch. But I can try again.) Any fermentation tends to lessen the bitterness, and I think it seems like an ideal way to use them. I have been doing as such and it has not taken long to decapitate most of the garlic mustard around that is safe to harvest (not pooped on by birds or dogs or automobile flatulence or herbicides).

Also good is with other greens. Stir frying or wilting tends to concentrate the flavor, while adding to soups disperses and softens it.  

Could we also use garlic mustard to make sauce outta them just as regular mustard from stores? Which ingredients we need to create Dijon or honey from the wild type? I don't understand why folks keep running back to the store to purchase mustard being chemically sold from shelves and have GMO in them.

Blake Lenoir wrote:Could we also use garlic mustard to make sauce outta them just as regular mustard from stores? Which ingredients we need to create Dijon or honey from the wild type? I don't understand why folks keep running back to the store to purchase mustard being chemically sold from shelves and have GMO in them.

The seeds taste fine to me; I don’t see why not. They probably need to be treated a bit differently from cultivated mustard, but don’t see anything wrong in principle.

I have also tried making a horseradish-ish condiment out of the roots, which was delicious, but they were hard to clean and a little fibrous too.

I forgot my pesto recipe here:

Maieshe Ljin wrote:Spring pesto:

1. Having gathered up allium leaves, garlic mustard, plenty of young flowering tips from ground ivy (Creeping Charlie), mild greens such as cleavers or chickweed, and a little of anything else: perhaps mugwort, dandelion, or sochan;
2. Pound and grind pine nuts or sunflower seeds to a paste;
3. Chop and add greens gradually to the mortar and incorporate, adding olive oil and some salt, until it arrives at a good consistency.

I don’t do much else with ground ivy, but used this way they are uniquely good.

Are there any ways to keep them from tasting bitter and lasting them for a year or so to get the taste we accustomed to from grocery stores? Any ingredients to help the sauce last for months or more?