From This Dirt Forward

There’s one way to get the last word with your stubborn garden weeds.  Eat them!

I’m serious.  If you’re feeling adventurous (and are confident in your weed ID abilities), I dare you to expand your culinary horizons with some Stinging Nettle Lasagna, Dandelion Fried Rice, Cattail Pollen Pancakes, Japanese Knotweed Sherbet, or some (author-approved) Garlic Mustard Pesto.  

The first time I invited Doug (now my husband) over to my place for dinner I wooed him with my signature macadamia nut encrusted mahi mahi with fresh mango and papaya relish.  Last night, five months into our marriage, I served him weeds.  “I guess the honeymoon is officially over,” he said as I coaxed him into a nibble of my Garlic Mustard Pesto. 

I’ve spent many hours pulling Garlic Mustard on nature preserve properties in Wisconsin and Indiana and was confident in my identification skills and culinary history of the plant.  My husband was not so confident in my confidence.  

When I plopped a basket of young Garlic Mustard leaves on the kitchen counter and proclaimed that dinner would be ready in 30 minutes, Doug looked at me like I was an alien who just invited him to dinner on another planet. 

Then the interview began.  “So what is this?  Are you sure?  And it’s edible?  How do you know?  Are you really sure?”  I answered him with confidence and reminded him that I ate the mushrooms he found in the woods a few weeks prior.

Then the interview got more pointed.  “But have you eaten it before?  Have you at least seen other people eat it?  Are they still alive?  Where did you get the recipe?  What if we’re allergic to this plant?” 

At this point, he began to break my confidence.  The truth was I’d only nibbled on the edge of a leaf once with no ill effects; I’d only heard stories of pioneers using it as a kitchen herb; and I found the recipe on the internet.  He reminded me that he’s been hunting for morel mushroom in the woods of Indiana since he was a kid, morels are a common delicacy, and that’s quite different than me finding a recipe on the internet for some weed that I’ve never even eaten before.

Okay, good point. 

I still made my greatly anticipated Garlic Mustard Pesto, but served it only as an appetizer, spread over toasted baguette slices.  I also agreed to eat some first and wait 30 minutes to make sure I didn’t slip into anaphylactic shock before subjecting my him to it too.  If we lived to see tomorrow’s dinner, then I would make the pasta dish as planned.

Garlic Mustard is an exotic weed species introduced by early European settlers in the 1800s for its medicinal and culinary properties.  The cool-season biennial is now widely distributed throughout the northern and Midwestern U.S. and continues to invade new regions.  Most commonly found in upland and floodplain forests, Garlic Mustard spreads aggressively and can displace most native woodland wildflowers within a short period of time.

Although most commonly seen in shady forested understorys, Garlic Mustard can also be found in savannas, backyards, along roadsides, and occasionally in full sun… like in my own young sunny prairie.

Last summer I talked my husband into converting ½ acre of our lawn into a native wildflower prairie.  I had visions of spending my evenings sitting in my Adirondack chair with a glass of wine watching the birds and the butterflies dance in the prairie below.  In reality, I spend my evenings doubled over with a weeding fork, yanking out Garlic Mustard (and about 14 other invasive, spiny, stinging, rash-inducing weeds) that have taken up residence in our prairie instead. 

I try not to think about the scale of the problem because it’s depressing.  Each garlic mustard plant produces hundreds of seeds that are viable for up to seven years.  So even if I successfully pull every single Garlic Mustard plant on my property (a seemingly impossible task), I will have to do so every year for the next seven years to make a real difference.  Talk about a commitment. 

Being able to EAT this weed is its one redeeming quality.   It felt good to get the last word. 

This is the recipe I followed that was posted here on the The Mid-Atlantic Exotic Pest Plant Council (MA-EPPC) website:

GARLIC MUSTARD PESTO

3 cups garlic mustard leaves, washed, patted dry, & packed in measuring cup
2 large garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 cup walnuts
1 cup olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup grated Romano cheese (or just use more parmesan)
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine garlic mustard leaves, garlic and walnuts in a food processor and chop.  Or you can divide the recipe in a half and use a blender.  With motor running, add olive oil  slowly.  Shut off motor.  Add cheese, salt & pepper, and process briefly to combine.  Scrape into refrigerator container and cover.  It can be frozen, although the garlic taste will diminish in the freezer.

This makes 2 cups, enough to use as sauce for 2 lbs. of pasta.  It’s good on crackers as an appetizer.   It is also super on baked fish.  Just spread some on your filets before you bake them.  Yum!

If you make this pesto with basil as it is usually made, use 3 cups of basil leaves and 4 cloves of garlic.

My review:  I liked it and will continue to use the leftovers in the freezer until my new crop of Basil is ready.  I’m a huge fan of Basil Pesto and this Garlic Mustard pesto was admittedly second best, but it’s nice to know that there’s an inexpensive and prolific Plan B for when my winter supply of Basil Pesto runs out in early spring.

Here’s what the anonymous reviewer had to say about eating weeds for dinner:

I’m really curious about the Stinging Nettle Lasagna, but think I need to rebuild my husband’s culinary trust first.   Anyone else feeling adventurous?