Wild Mustard

Wild Mustard

    Mustards have been cultivated since before written history and selectively bred into many foods you know, but may not know are actually a type of mustard including; turnips, cabbage, collard greens, kale, cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage. With at least 6,000 years under it's belt as a domesticated plant, there are now over 4,000 different species in 6 of the 7.
    As far as I know there are no poisonous look-alikes and even the plants you might mistake them for are edible in the same manner, so the mustard plant is one of the first plants every survivalist should familiarize themselves with. The are mustard is high in calcium, potassium and vitamins C and A and make an excellent food source.

    The plant itself starts as a rosette, as the plant matures it will send up a single stalk that branches out into multiple stems. Later at the end of each stem it will have multiple flowers, each flower having 4 petals. The family is called cruciferous meaning 'cross bearing' which came from the distinct flowers.

    You will notice some variance between the flowers depending on what species you come across. Sometimes the flowers will be larger or have white to light purple, these are usually turnips (obviously the root is the best part). Other times the flowers will start further down the branch and look more like a brush, these are frequently called bottle brush mustards and are frequently found with the smaller version known as poor man's pepper grass (used usually for it's seeds as a spice and replacement for pepper).

    Wild mustard is edible at any stage of growth, but various parts will be better. In early spring the rosette at the base will be edible raw. After a while the rosette on many species will take on a bitter taste and you'll want to boil them in a change of water (on many versions of the plant the leaves will be furry, boiling it once will get rid of that texture that can be hard to get used to).
    The new leaves at the end of the branch will have the mustardy taste that you will recognize from the modern day mustard condiment (well minus the vinegar and other spices taste). As a general the leaves taste better before the plant flowers, though they are still edible afterwards, but you may want to use them as a pot herb. Older leaves may have to be boiled in a couple changes of water to get rid of the bitter taste (this will very on what species of mustard you find)
    The stems, once the leaves are removed are edible as well. Though the taste will very dramatically. Once you've collected your leaves, break off a tender piece of the stem and give it a taste test, on about a quarter of the plants I've encountered this will become an additional food source. Though frequently it will be unpalatable or too fibrous depending on the time of year. The flower stalk is also edible, though again depending on the species of plant it's taste will vary fairly dramatically.
    The root of all mustards are edible as well. While it can be cleaned, boiled and eaten as all, where the root really shines is when it's dried and smashed into a powder. It makes a good spice on it's own, but when mixed with a little bit of vinegar becomes what you know as horse radish these days.
    The seeds of the mustard plant are high in calcium, magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids, iron zinc and protein. They can pressed for mustard oil, dried and powdered to make a dry mustard or the dried powder can be mixed with vinegar to make the traditional mustard that you are already familiar with from your fridge.

Fun Fact: The original mustard condiment was made from 

dried mustard seeds and unripe grape juice

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    Lepidium or poor man's pepper grass is mostly used as a spice, though it's tiny leaves and root is still edible in the same fashion if you're looking for a small snack.

    While there are actually about 175 different species of lepidium, they are usually broken down into the shape of their seeds;
Tooth shaped = Cow Cress
Heart Shaped = Shepherd's Purse
Round Shape = Penny Cress
    As you might have guessed by it's name, it's frequently used a replacement for pepper. Once the seeds come in a thin papery material will cover the seeds, this material is removed and the seeds are parched then once dry crushed into a pepper substitute.