i was worried that i might be the only one who eats weeds. your recipes sound great! i don't have garlic mustard, but i have lots of chickweed and wild onions, and pull handfulls to put on my sandwiches and in salads. i have a recipe for chickweed quiche that is pretty good.

chickweed quiche
2 tablespoons chopped wild green onion tops
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped small
3 cups chickweed, chopped small
2 tablespoons olive oil
dash of each-salt, pepper, ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon each, fresh basil and parsley, cut fine
4 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
3 medium eggs, well beaten
1/2 cup yogurt

saute garlic in oil in skillet. stir in washed chopped chickweed, wild onions, red peppers and seasonings, and stir until soft. in a bowl, blend the eggs, yogurt and cheese. stir the cooled veggie mixture into the eggs and blend well. pour filling into prepared pie crust and bake at 375 until knife near center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. to make small tarts, use cookie cutter to make 3-4 inch rounds and fit into muffin tins. place one tablespoon filling into each tart. bake tarts at 350 for about 12 minutes, until set and lightly browned. make 3 dozen tarts or one pie.

Thanks Jrmankins for the recipe! We have tons of onion grass (the only thing the deer won't eat), I'll have to pull some out and try that! I love quiche!!! Mmmmmm....great now I'm hungry.

Have you read the book "Stalking the Wild Asparagus" by Euell Gibbons, he had some awesome ideas about eating weeds. I tried some daylilly buds and open flowers, I sauteed them in some butter, they were good! They tasted faintly of broccoli. You can also eat their 'corms' in the spring too. they are white bulb-like things. Yummy! You can also eat cattails, just make sure the water they are in isn't polluted. I loved that book! You can find it on Amazon.com if your library doesn't have it.

Oh, if you have stinging nettle, that is good in soup too. Just wear gloves when handling, once it's cooked it loses its sting. Rich in vitamin K too. Thanks for the recipe!

i like to use milkweed the one with the pink flower, and cut the leaves into smaller squares. but i parboil it for like 1/2 hour or so, then drain it. then boil add fresh water and boil it, while adding dumplings and bacon thats been cooked with onions and pepper and some other seasonings. you'll want the ending result to be for it to be soupy, kinda thick. its awesome!! and great for your health!! you'll want to add in the stems also. i alway's soak it in hot water first to make sure that bugs get out first. also the "milk" will stick to your clothes and i have never been able to get that out.. LOL
never thought about eating cattails!! LOL or chickweed, heck we have tons of that!! LOL

I have been fighting Garlic Mustard for a few years now -- believe it or not, I was dumb enough to intentionally plant it in the first place.

This year, when I pulled it, I noticed the big white roots, so I washed a number of them, took them into the house, rewashed, peeled them, then processed them in the food processor with vinegar, salt, and a pinch of sugar -- made an excellent, mild horseradish type sauce.

However, it took a LOT of roots, because it looks as if they were attacked last year in a big way by some type of root maggot, no doubt the same ones that attack onions and radishes in the garden.

Last wednesday, on "Morning Edition," NPR did a story about people promoting the culinary use of garlic mustard as a way to fight this invasive weed. I learned something about it I didn't know -- it is destroying the forests, because it has a compound in its roots which inhibits the germination of tree seedlings, so the old trees aren't being replaced with new ones in areas with heavy infestations of Garlic Mustard.

Dennis
Michigan

Note to the weed eating novices who may want to try some of these recipes: I have heard that it depends WHEN you pick these plants for eating that can greatly influence their goodness. For example when I make wilted dandelion leaf salad (with bacon pcs, HB eggs sliced and sweet & sour hot dressing) that you need to pick leaves before they bloom. After that the leaves are bitter and you would be very disappointed after all that work.

I made some garlic mustard pesto from the leaves last April and it was better than expected. I think the leaves later in the summer might not be so good. Happy weed picking - especially for Earth Day!

Very true. Unlike a lot of cultivated plants that have been bred for qualities like tenderness, lack of bitterness, ability to hold, wild greens are often only good for most culinary purposes when very young and tender. Older leaves are often either too tough, too bitter, too strong, etc.

My chickens and ducks get a lot of my edible weeds, turns them into valuable manure compost in the long run. "Death by Poultry" is the sentence handed down to weeds in my yard. :=)

Just used the first year garlic mustard plants in July. Still tender enough in the forest under-story to make a great pesto, 5th time this year. Its also a decent pot herb. Many of these weeds that become too bitter and/or tough have much longer windows as pot herbs, sow thistles and wild lettuce being among them and even in July when I still can take the tops off and replace any cooked spinach recipe.