Mashomack Musings: A pest or a delight?

Conservationists loathe it, but locavores embrace it.

I’m talking of course about garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), a flavorful plant that was introduced to the United States by European settlers in the 1800s. High in vitamins A and C, this garlic-flavored plant was used widely in cooking and for occasional medicinal purposes.

Also known as Poor Man’s Mustard and Jack-by-the-Hedge, it’s now at its most noticeable. Lining roadsides, wood edges or clustered beneath hedges, this green biennial is “bolting” — growing rapidly from a basal rosette to a flower.

Garlic mustard’s lower leaves are kidney-shaped with scalloped edges. The plant grows 1 to 3 feet tall, with clusters of small, four-petal white flowers topping the stem. The flowers mature quickly into spikes of seed pods.

Beware: Garlic mustard is invasive. It can grow in sun or shade and quickly displaces wildflowers. Deer avoid its garlic-flavored leaves, and each plant produces an average of 600 seeds. It grows vigorously, monopolizing light and moisture. It’s also allelopathic and produces chemicals that inhibit the growth of other plants. It is definitely a plant bully.

However, nearly every part of the plant is edible. Recipes are easily found online. It’s used as flavoring for soups and stews, or to make pesto and garlic mashed potatoes. The Kalamazoo Nature Center in Michigan actually has a recipe book called “Pest to Pesto.”

So, is garlic mustard a wild edible or an invasive pest? The answer: Yes. Do your menu and local landscape a favor and go collect some today.