Thursday 24 April 2008

Jack By The Hedge (Alliaria petiolata)


Out walking the other day I noticed the first of the Jack By The Hedge or Garlic Mustard as its called by some people growing. I love this wild herb although it falls in the wild flower category in a lot of the books. Its a biennial plant that smells remarkably like garlic when the leaves and stems are crushed and they taste lovely, a favourite salad mix of mine at this time of year is garlic mustard, rocket, wild garlic leaves, sorrel and young dandelion leaves.

The leaves are bright green in early spring, with a slight reddish tinge to the very new growth, which darken as the year advances. Appropriately named, this is a plant of hedgerows, but it mostly grows in shaded places. It doesn't like full sun, hence growing under tree canopies and underneath the hedgerows, you can also find it lining riverbanks if there is suitable shade. It can become very invasive, as it self seeds readily, so if you want to grow it in the garden, you'll have to keep on top of it.

The best of the flowers appear in April and early May, but you can occasionally find a few blooms right through until August and you can sprinkle them on salads. The whole plant can be used to obtain a yellow dye, so anyone interested in plant dyes may like to seek this one out.

Today its no longer used medicinally, but Garlic Mustard has been used as an antiseptic, to promote sweating and to relieve the itching caused by insect bites and stings! The seeds were once used to make snuff, to promote sneezing. You can use the leaves to flavour soups and salads, but one of my favourite uses for them is to make a pesto with the leaves.

Garlic Mustard Pesto

4 Cloves Of Garlic
150g Garlic Mustard Taproots
200g Garlic Mustard Leaves
100g Basil
250g Pine Nuts
250ml Virgin Olive Oil

1. Chop the garlic and garlic mustard roots in a food processor.

2. Add the garlic, garlic mustard leaves and basil and chop.

3. Add the pine nuts and chop coarsely.

4. Add the olive oil and process until you've created a coarse paste.

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