Garlic mustard (raw, organic?)

Garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata) is a delicious wild plant when eaten raw, with a subtle garlic aroma and plenty of vitamin C. Organic seeds or organic potted plants can be purchased in garden centers.

Garlic mustard: Use in the kitchen

Is garlic mustard edible? Yes, it is. The taste of the raw wild plant (also known as garlic herb, garlic leeks, etc.) is reminiscent of wild garlic or garlic. Overall, garlic mustard is milder and no unpleasant taste remains after eating. Can you eat garlic mustard raw? With garlic leeks, you can eat all parts of the plant raw. Only the stems are rarely used in the kitchen.

Cooking with garlic mustard: Can you cook garlic mustard? When cooking or heating, the mildly spicy to hot mustard-like and peppery flavors with their garlic aroma evaporate quickly. This is why garlic mustard is used raw or added after cooking.

How can you eat garlic mustard? Finely chopped leaves and shoots of the garlic herb can be used raw in salads, vegan herb curd (curd spreads), tzatziki, pesto, raw food spreads, soups, sauces, dips, spicy smoothies or salty sorbets. To this day, the raw leaves are used in England to make a sandwich filling. The flowers make an edible decoration. You can use garlic mustard to flavor vinegar or oil by soaking the plant in it.

The green, unripe seed pods can be crushed in a mortar and the pulp pressed through a sieve with oil and vinegar. This produces a spicy, green, mustard-like seasoning paste.

The seeds have a more intense flavor than the leaves. When young, tender and still green (May-June), the raw seeds from the pods can be used to season spicy dishes. When ripe (July-August), the seeds from plants that are up to one year old can be ground and mixed with vinegar, oil and salt to make a wild herb mustard (garlic mustard). The black, ripe seeds with their spicy flavor are an alternative to peppercorns.

By finely grating the taproot of the young, annual plant, you can obtain a horseradish-like, spicy and vegan spice.

Are there similar foods that can be used as a substitute for garlic mustard? Alternatives for allium are garlic, wild garlic, chives or spring onions and for the seeds, mustard orpepper.

Garlic mustard: recipe for vegan wild plant guacamole

Ingredients (for four people): 2 ripe avocados (organic), pitted; 1 handful of raw garlic mustard leaves (approx. 3.5 g), finely chopped; 2 raw tomatoes (organic), finely diced; 1 chili pepper, pitted and chopped; juice of ½ organic lemon ; salt and pepper.

Preparation: Mash the flesh of the raw avocados with a fork and mix the avocado pulp with the remaining ingredients. Season the guacamole with salt and pepper and serve fresh. The dish is vegan.

Vegan recipes with garlic mustard can be found under the note: " Recipes that have the most of this ingredient ".

Purchasing - where to buy garlic mustard?

Seeds for garlic in conventional or controlled organic quality (organic) can be bought occasionally in specialist shops or online. Potted plants can occasionally be found at perennial markets or on the Internet.

So far we have not found dried garlic hederia or a raw food product in supermarket chains such as Coop, Migros, Denner, Volg, Spar, Aldi, Lidl, Rewe, Edeka or Hofer. Organic supermarkets, e.g. Denn's Biomarkt or Alnatura, organic shops and health food stores also do not seem to stock the wild vegetable. These wild plants are rarely available in raw food quality from retailers, gardeners, at the weekly market or directly from the farmer, e.g. via a subscription box / seasonal box / green box.

Found in the wild - Season:

Leek prefers nutrient-rich, loose, humus-rich and loamy soils and grows in shady to semi-shady locations in herb communities and bushes. It can be found in shaded wild herb areas (such as forest edges, forest paths, hedges, clear-cuts), in deciduous forests, mixed forests or open forests. As an epiphyte, it can grow in the forks of tree branches. In residential areas, leek occurs in hedges, gardens, parks, woods, on rubble heaps (ruderal areas), fallow land, on roadsides and walls. There it is often found in the company of nettles ; like these, it is a nitrogen indicator. ^1,2

The flowering period of garlic mustard extends from April to August, the main flowering period is from May to June. ¹ The leaves, flowers and shoots can be harvested from April to September (hence the alternative name summer garlic). In mild regions the leaves can be harvested all year round. The taproot of annual plants is dug up in spring or autumn. This means that the wild herb is in season almost all year round.

In spring, the garlic hederich shows a growth behavior ("strawberry behavior"): The long-stemmed and relatively large leaves emerge from a basal leaf rosette (a central point). To make optimal use of the light, the upper leaves develop smaller and have shorter stems. The garlic hederich is a biennial, occasionally perennial herbaceous plant and reaches heights of mostly 20-100 cm. ³

The stems are upright, slightly square and develop a slight hairiness in the lower part. The leaves are arranged alternately on the stem and resemble a mixture of ground ivy and nettle leaves. The basal leaves are large, kidney-shaped or round; the stem leaves are triangular-trapezoidal to pointed heart-shaped and have an irregularly toothed leaf edge. When the leaves are crushed, a garlic-like scent is produced. The white, four-petaled flowers (5-8 mm), which are arranged crosswise to one another, are loosely arranged at the end of the stems. The fruit is a 3-7 cm long pod with 6-8 black seeds per compartment. ¹ The taproot is white to brownish and often divided two or three times in the middle.

Storing garlic mustard:

Raw garlic mustard should be used fresh. Drying the plant parts is not suitable for storage as valuable ingredients and aromas are lost. Freezing or making pesto are good methods of preserving it.

Ingredients - Nutritional values - Calories:

Garlic mustard nutritional value: 100 g of the raw herb has a nutritional value of 70 kcal. The calorie content is mainly made up of 0.53 g fat, 14 g carbohydrates and 8.6 g protein. Does garlic mustard contain vitamins? Minerals and vitamins are contained on average, with the positive exception of vitamin C. ^4.5

Fresh garlic herb contains an average of 261 mg/100g ¹⁷ (according to the spectrum between 190-400 mg/100g) of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Just under 30 g of freshly harvested plant parts can cover the daily requirement of vitamin C. Significantly more vitamin C is found in raw sea buckthorn berries (450 mg/100g). Smaller amounts can be found in 100 g of blackcurrants (181 mg), raw wild garlic (150 mg), fresh ground elder (140 mg), fresh parsley (133 mg), raw fenugreek leaves (126 mg) or narrow-leaved willowherb (99 mg). ^4.5

Specialist books such as the encyclopedia of edible wild plants ¹ attest that garlic mustard contains high levels of vitamin A. The specialist literature contains inconsistent figures: from 8,600 - 19,000 IU (beta-carotene, approx. 430-950 µg RAE, depending on the time of harvest) ¹⁸ up to 13.3 mg of carotenoids (not specified in more detail) per 100 g. ¹⁷ Higher values such as the last one mentioned should be treated with caution, as no more precise information on the composition of the carotenoids is provided - which is why we recommend the former estimate as a guideline.

Furthermore, secondary plant ingredients such as sugars, saponins, glucosinolates (mustard oil glycosides), garlic oil, essential oil and small amounts of glycosides are present. ¹ The sharp taste of garlic herb is due to essential oils and the glucosinolate sinigrin. ^1,6,7

The nutritional value of raw garlic and that of raw allium (keywords: garlic mustard nutrients, garlic mustard ingredients) differ from each other. The garlic nutritional values can be found in detail HERE.

The complete ingredients of fresh garlic mustard, the coverage of the daily requirement and comparison values with other ingredients can be found in our nutrient tables in CLICK FOR below the ingredients picture.

Health aspects - effects:

Is garlic mustard healthy? Since the plant is rich in nutrients and no undesirable effects (side effects) are known, garlic mustard is considered a healthy wild vegetable. ⁸ The health-promoting effects of garlic herb are based on its good vitamin C and vitamin A content (carotenoids) ^1,17,18 as well as on the mustard oil glycosides, saponins and essential oils it contains. The latter ingredients have antibacterial, diuretic, expectorant, mucolytic and slightly wound-healing effects. ⁸

A Scottish study proves the antioxidant effects of the seeds. ¹⁶

Use as a medicinal plant:

Garlic mustard, which is rich in vitamin C, has not attracted any particular interest in science to date. Overall, there are very few and mostly older studies on the medicinal use of the wild plant. ⁸

Folk medicine - natural medicine:

Compared to the Middle Ages, garlic mustard no longer plays a major role as a medicinal herb. ⁸ In traditional medicine, garlic mustard was used for catarrh of the respiratory tract, for asthma and as a gargle. Fresh parts of the plant are occasionally used today to support digestion, for colds, for eczema and for a diuretic and blood-purifying effect. Externally, poultices or rinses can help with festering wounds, insect bites, small wounds, poorly healing skin problems, neuralgia, rheumatism, gout, gingivitis or inflammation of the mouth and throat. ^1,7,8,9

Other forms of administration include freshly pressed juices from the whole plant, compresses or teas. ⁸

Occurrence - Origin:

Garlic mustard is one of the oldest known native spices. Prehistoric finds from 4000 BC show plant residues on pottery shards that were discovered at cooking sites and in graves on the Danish and North German Baltic coast. ^8,10,11,12

Garlic is native to Europe, the temperate zones of Asia and parts of North Africa. In North and South America it is a neophyte and is considered invasive. The plant was probably deliberately introduced there by European settlers as a culinary herb and medicinal plant. ^8,9,13

Growing in the garden or as a potted plant:

Garlic mustard can be easily grown in the garden or as a potted plant on the balcony. East, north and northwest locations are particularly suitable for potted plants. In the garden, semi-shaded to shady locations with nutrient-rich, permeable and humus-rich soil are preferable. ⁸

Sowing takes place in March and April. You can sow the garlic mustard seeds in bowls and then place them directly on the balcony or outdoors. As cold germinators, the seeds need frost at the beginning. Direct sunlight should be avoided. For optimal growth of potted and tub plants, a nitrogen-rich organic fertilizer is suitable. ⁸

Planting garlic mustard under healthy trees should be avoided. Almost all trees form symbioses with mycorrhizal fungi, which will disrupt garlic mustard in the long term. ⁸

Animal protection - species protection - animal welfare:

In addition to self-pollination, bees, bumblebees, flies, hoverflies, butterflies and beetles are used as pollinating insects for the cross-pollination of garlic herb. ¹⁴

Garlic mustard is a very important nectar and food plant for the red-eyed squill butterfly ( Anthocharis cardamines) and for the highly endangered mealy-colored moth ( Lithostege farinata). The red-eyed squill butterfly prefers to lay its eggs on the two cruciferous species of garlic and meadowfoam. The newly hatched caterpillars immediately begin to feed on the flowers and fruits of these plants. After flowering (around June), the caterpillars pupate and attach themselves to the stem in an upright position in the lower part of the garlic over the next ten months. Leaving the plants standing or carefully cutting them off and storing them safely and vertically outdoors until next spring is therefore an important prerequisite for the next generation of red-eyed squill butterflies. ^14,15

The caterpillars of the Brassicaceae leaf moth ( Xanthorhoe designata) and the Common leaf moth ( Xanthorhoe fluctuata) are oligophagous, meaning they are specialized and dependent on a few plant species. The caterpillars of the African stalked moth ( Phlogophora meticulosa) and the Green-veined white ( Pieris napi) are "omnivores" (polyphagous) and feed on the garlic marsh. ^9,15

Possible confusion:

Confusing garlic mustard with similar looking plants is not a problem. The wild plants described (including wild horseradish ¹) are not poisonous and are also edible as wild vegetables. Uncertainties are also possible due to the variety of names. Garlic mustard is sometimes also called garlic herb (incorrect spelling: garlic herb), garlic rocket (incorrect spelling: garlic rocket), ramselwurz, etc. (see below).

In spring, the round to kidney-shaped leaves that grow close to the ground are very similar to ground ivy ( Glechoma hederacea). Later, the plants can be easily distinguished from one another, as garlic mustard grows significantly taller and has nettle-like leaves in the upper part. Ground ivy (Lamiaceae) has purple flowers all over the stem, while garlic mustard has white flowers in the upper part.

Like allium, the echinacea ( Sisymbrium officinale) is a cruciferous plant. The yellow, racemose inflorescences are also found in the upper part of the plant. The edges of the leaves are serrated, larger at the bottom and smaller towards the top.

The leaves of the common shepherd's purse ( Capsella) are arranged in a rosette and are elongated and toothed (comparable to rocket leaves). The fruits are triangular. The flowers of the cruciferous plant are white and are arranged in racemes in the upper part of the plant.

Woodruff flowers ( Galium odoratum) are also white and arranged in a cross, which is why garlic mustard is called false woodruff. The distinguishing feature is the long, narrow leaves that grow in several layers around the stem in woodruff (scented bedstraw) and bedstraws in general.

General information:

Garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata (M. Bieb.) Cavara & Grande) belongs to the family of cruciferous plants (Brassicaceae or Cruciferae). Are all cruciferous plants wild plants? In addition to wild plants, the cruciferous family includes many important cultivated plants such as broccoli, red cabbage, white cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kohlrabi, black mustard, Indian mustard, Chinese cabbage, pak choi, turnips, rapeseed, radish, radishes, white mustard, horseradish, garden cress and wasabi.

Alternative names:

When the leaves are crushed, a fleeting garlic scent is created, which is what some of the common names refer to: garlic herb, garlic herb, wild garlic, garlic hederich, garlic hederich, summer garlic, garlic mustard. Other names: leek hederich, leek herb, ramselwurz, hasekehl, bloderkraut, leaf herb and false woodruff.

Alternative or incorrect spellings are garlic tendril, garlic mustard, garlic rocket, garlic mustard, garlic rue, garlic herb, garlic rsuke, garlic sraukr, garlic mustard, garlic mustard and terms such as: garlic mustard recipes, garlic mustard seeds, garlic mustard recipes, eating garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (MBieb.), Alliaria petiolata (m.bieb.) cavara, Alliaria petiolata (m.bieb.) cavara & grande, Aliaria and Alliaire.

Medicinal drug names for the fresh plant are Herba Alliariae and Herba Alliariae officinalis.

English names are garlic mustard ( Alliaria petiolata), garlic root, hedge garlic, sauce-alone, jack-in-the-bush, penny hedge or poor man's mustard. In Turkish it is known as sarımsak or sarmısak otu.

Latin synonyms for Alliaria petiolata are Arabis petiolata, Alliaria alliaria, Alliaria officinalis, Alliaria alliaceae, Erysimum alliaria, Erysimum alliaceum, Crucifera alliaria, Hesperis alliaria and Sisymbrium alliaria.

Literature - Sources: