Eating The Ozarks

Next month, I’ll be leading a foraging stroll at Finley Farms!

Wild Foraging: Spring Edition - Finley Farms Join Rachael West, founder of Eating the Ozarks and the Foraging Academy, for a guided, easy-paced walk through Finley Farms. Along the way, you’ll learn to identify and forage local…

Garlic Mustard is one of our favorite winter greens to forage. The leaves are good for our heart, they help lower cholesterol, may help prevent cancer, and are loaded with nutrition. Garlic mustard is considered quite invasive, this is a plant you can forage freely.

Edible parts: Flowers, leaves, roots and seeds.

Eat it: The leaves are best from early spring until the plant goes into flower, winter leaves are also tasty. Flowers can be tossed into salads raw or blended into a mustard like pesto. The roots can be collected in early spring and again in late fall / winter. The roots taste fry similar to horseradish. I love blending the root with the leaves, and other backyard edibles such as garlic grass, ginger and wood sorrel to create a wild pesto worthy of any sandwich or dish. The seeds can be gathered in the fall. They’re small, but pack quite a punch in homemade stone ground mustard or fermented foods.

Happy foraging friends!