Hi, my name is Paul Sokoloff and I'm a botanist at the Canadian Museum of Nature.
As we get closer to Canada Day, you're probably starting to think about firing up the grill.
And you're also probably starting to think about weeding your backyard.
Here, I'm going to show you how you can pick your weeds and eat them too.
Now before you go foraging, it's important to remember that we always have to know exactly what plant we're using before we pick it and before we eat it.
Remember: if you don't know what it is, don't put it in your mouth.
It's also important to remember to always pick in your own backyard and to always forage in places where you have permission of the landowner.
[text: Garlic Mustard]
I'm going to show you a few recipes that involve garlic mustard and dandelions.
[text: Dandelions]
All right, so we're back home from foraging. I've taken my weeds and I've rinsed them off
really well to get rid of any residue that might be on the surface, or any bugs.
I'm going to show you two very simple recipes that will have you barbecue-ready in no time.
We're going to start with a garlic-mustard pesto, which is a great condiment for burgers,
it's good on pasta—any place you use regular pesto.
We're going to move on to a simple vinaigrette for a dandelion-green salad.
We're going to start with a very simple pesto that's made out of garlic mustard.
Now, the Latin name for this plant is Alliaria petiolata, and just like its English common name
—while it tastes super garlicky, it's actually in the mustard family.
It's not very closely related to true garlic.
The leaves are full of chemical compounds that are very garlicky and pungent, and it also has a bit of a peppery bite.
So, this is a great weed to forage in disturbed areas, in backyards, to make pesto.
Like any other pesto, there are a few simple ingredients to add to this garlic-mustard pesto,
and then you can refine it, depending on your own taste.
So, the first thing we need are the picked and washed garlic-mustard leaves.
You've got this very distinct kind of tooth-shaped leaf, which will be useful as an identification characteristic.
So, grab several cups of this. I'm just going to throw this into a food-processor bowl.
Honestly, you can hand-chop this, but I'm going to take a shortcut. I'm going to use a food processor.
Now, as if the garlic flavour wasn't already strong enough, we're going to add even more garlic.
We're going to add another bit of garlic to just give that pungent flavour and, you know, I like garlic.
You can never have too much. I think most people are like that, or on the other side.
We're going to add a little bit of lemon juice. We're just going to squeeze a lemon in there. That adds a little brightness and acidity.
And then the other important ingredient is olive oil.
You add a bunch of olive oil to smooth it out.
Depending on your own tastes, you might choose to add nuts. Pine nuts or pistachios are great in a pesto.
And you also probably are adding a bit of Parmesan cheese. Now if you don't have any Parmesan, I do recommend adding a little bit of salt.
That will help to bring out the flavours.
I'm just going to blitz this up.
And there you have it, a really simple garlic-mustard pesto that is a perfect accompaniment to burgers in the backyard.
Now we're going to move on to a simple vinaigrette to dress a garden salad of dandelion greens.
This is the weedy dandelion Taraxacum officinale, and you can find this in every province and territory in Canada.
You know it's everywhere, and you even can find it on the Belcher Islands in Nunavut.
[text: Commonly known as dandelion…] The young greens are quite tender, so they make really good salad.
[text: Dandelion leaf. Photo by Greg Hume. Used under licence CC BY-SA 3.0.] They can be a little bitter if you don't cook them,
so we're going to use a citrusy vinaigrette to counteract that and add a little bit of sweetness and saltiness to make a really nice vinaigrette.
Now, I'm going to make a simple vinaigrette to dress our dandelion green salad.
I'm going to start off with a few minced cloves of garlic.
I'm just going to make this in a Mason jar. I like to shake it up in the jar itself. It's just easier than any other way.
And then we're going to add to that our lime juice.
To give it a little more acidity, we're also going to add some rice-wine vinegar,
a little bit of soy sauce, and for sweetness, a touch of honey.
If you have shallots, you can add that to this. A little bit of sesame oil might be nice in this as well.
All right, so I'm going to put the lid on my Mason jar and shake that up.
And there we have our simple vinaigrette, a very garlicky, citrusy vinaigrette
for our dandelion-green salad.
Those are two very simple recipes that you can use to transform your backyard weeds into treats for your backyard Canada Day barbecue.
Now remember those safety tips that we talked about at the beginning.
Make sure there are no pesticide residues on anything. Make sure you always have permission before you go foraging. And make sure you know what it is before you eat it.
This is actually fun for me too, because normally I have to collect the plants and press them instead of cooking with them.
And in fact, in the National Herbarium of Canada, which is held in the Canadian Museum of Nature,
we have the pressed and dried library of over a million plant specimens that includes weeds as well.
This helps us determine when plants were introduced by pinpointing a place in time that they've been collected over the centuries,
and the herbarium also contains interesting things like weeds and dandelions.
Thank you, Happy Barbecue and Happy Canada Day.