In the last few years, I was introduced to the lovely 'weed', Garlic Mustard.
It's one of those plants that came over with European settlers...
and has taken over ever since.
Seriously!
There is no where in North America where you will have to adhere
to strict conservation collecting with this one.
In fact, the Ontario Government has come out with a super cool website to tell you all about it!
It might take you a few seasons to make sure it is what you think it is.
Spring time looks like the above picture.
The cute, scalloped leaves are hard to mistake.
Once you identify these leaves, its hard to miss them.
You start to see them literally
EVERYWHERE!
The bright green spring leaves are a treat too.
They taste garlicky and goes great in a salad.
By August, they start looking like the above picture.
They shoot up and send out spindly shoots.
They sprout these wee seed pods.
Once the pods are dry...collect immediately!
I've checked one day and by the next day the wind has scattered them all.
Again, I can't stress enough...collect as many as you want...
You don't have to worry about this hearty plant coming back.
The seeds look like long poppyseeds.
They have a light mustard taste.
I've heard you can made mustard from grinding the seeds...
So that was our big experiment this year!
We collected the seed pods and slowly, patiently removed all of the seeds from each one.
Each pods contains anywhere from 2-10 seeds.
This process is time consuming...so plan a movie marathon or binge watch session.
A few weeks ago I actually got around to making the mustard I had set out to make using these seeds.
It turned out great!
I was amazed at the distinct wasabi taste.
Imagine...making wasabi in your own backyard!
I will admit I was a little disappointed...it didn't taste more like mustard.
Just being honest.
I guess I'll have to grow mustard greens in order to actually make mustard.
Even still...a very cool experiment indeed.
Thanks go out to The 3 Foragers for inspiring me to move beyond my comfort zone!!!
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