Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)

Family: Brassicaceae | Edibility: Edible (3/5)

Biennial woodland weed with heart-shaped scalloped leaves and small white four-petaled flowers, smelling distinctly of pungent garlic.

Edible Parts & Harvest Seasons

Edible Parts: Leaves, Shoots, Flowers, Roots/Tubers, Nuts/Seeds

Harvest Seasons: Early Summer, Fall, Late Summer, Spring

Flavor & Culinary Uses

Bold combination of pungent wild garlic and peppery mustard greens; roots taste like sharp horseradish. — Spring basal rosettes blended with walnuts and parmesan into spicy garlic mustard pesto; Flower buds and young tender flowering stems steamed like wild rapini; Autumn taproots grated fresh with vinegar as wild horseradish sauce

Habitat & North American Range

Deciduous forest floors, river floodplains, trail borders, and shaded gardens. (Zone 3, Zone 4, Zone 5, Zone 6, Zone 7, Zone 8)