I personally love when everything starts to thaw. It is the start of spring, when everything begins to grow again. And for a forager this means a lot. Winter is often a dead time for foraging in Pennsylvania, and I can rarely, if ever forage in the winter. Today has marked an end of that. The first forage of the season happened today. I was hiking in the woods near my house with a friend, and I found garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata),
(Garlic mustard roots- Photo by Ciaran Rooney-Gatmaitan)
one of the first wild edibles of spring. When it is young it has 5-10 little leaves, slightly resembling wild violets. However wild violets leaves are heart shaped, and have smooth stems. Garlic mustard, later in the season also grows flower stalks that can grow up to 2 feet tall. Pick these when young for a delicious tender, garlicy, and mustardy tasting trail snack. These also can be cooked in olive oil for a side to any meal.
The specimen that I had stumbled upon were still small with no flower stalks (for those of you wondering try in 2-3 weeks). With these the best way to use is to either use the leaves to make a pesto, (Note to anyone who has interest in doing so- Use basil with it, or else it will be unpalatable). For pesto prepare the same way you would basil pesto, just substitute about 1/5 to 1/3 of the basil for the garlic mustard leaves. Another great way to use the young garlic mustard is to use its roots, which are fairly small. However they have quite a strong taste, and you can use them anywhere you would use horseradish.
As earlier states, spring is coming so expect more posts more constantly. Hope you enjoyed and happy foraging
