Garlic Mustard—Weeds, Pesto, and Memories (For Earth Day 2021)

 Garlic Mustard—Weeds, Pesto, and Memories (For Earth Day 2021)

It’s garlic mustard season! Although it does signal the arrival of spring, this plant takes over woods, fields and yards, choking out other plants. Because of this, it is called a weed. 

On a personal level, garlic mustard reminds me of my son. He spent long days pulling it out and disposing of it in the various parks and meadows where he worked, but he also didn’t like calling it a weed. He found it problematic that humans divided the world into things that were useful or pleasurable to them and therefore “good,” while everything else was dangerous or bad. He saw that categorization applied to humans, too. Those who toed the line and did what was expected to keep the capitalistic, consumerist-oriented system going were the desirable ones, while humans--like himself—who challenged the system, cared about the wellbeing of the planet more than money were deemed bad, or, at least, odd. 

 

I think he might have related to garlic mustard on an emotional level. Rather than simply dismissing it as a weed, he encouraged people to appreciate it as a food but also to keep eradicating it. To that end, he tried different ways of eating it and oftentimes made pesto from it. His recipe is below. He also talks about garlic mustard and other wild plants in the short documentary I produced on “Foods From Nature” for the Center for Food and Culture. You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJhU0L6t4No.

 

The Garlic Mustard plant is native to Europe, western and central Asia and northwest Africa, where it was valued for its medicinal and edible properties. It was used there as a flavoring for food, and the young leaves were eaten as a vegetable. It apparently also functioned as a diuretic and disinfectant, and was used to treat wounds. 

 

So, originally, it was not considered a weed. It was likely introduced to the U.S in the early 1800s by European settlers and was first recorded in Long Island in 1868. (https://www.invasive.org/alien/pubs/midatlantic/alpe.htm). It turned out, though, that there are no natural controls for it in North America, and it has spread across the continent, taking over in wooded areas and yards. It is also toxic to many native herbivores, butterflies, and moths. 

Rather than exterminate the plant by chemical means, which would then cause another set of problems, scientists (like my son) suggest physically removing and discarding the plant, but also finding uses for it. One of those can be food. To that end, garlic mustard pesto is a small step in making a dent in the spread of this plant. Perhaps more importantly, it represents a way to collaborate with nature, recognizing that human intervention has created damage and that our solutions resolving that damage can sometimes cause even more. 

Ian Santino's Recipe for Garlic Mustard Pesto:

3 cups garlic mustard leaves washed and packed (young leaves are the best)

2 garlic cloves (optional

1 cup olive oil

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast

1 – 1 ½ cups walnuts (pine nuts can be used, but are expensive)

¼ teaspoon salt 

1/8 teaspoon pepper (optional)

 

1.Pack three cups garlic mustard leaves washed and dried. (For best flavor, use young garlic mustard leaves before the plant flowers. )

2.Combine remaining ingredients in a food processor.  

3.Blend until pesto is smooth.  

4.Slowly add garlic mustard leaves to the pesto blend until all leaves are added and the pesto is smooth.  

Use as a sauce or spread on pasta, bread, and other dishes or use as a dip for veggies and chips.