Photography by Marie Viljoen.
The chances are good that you are surrounded by Artemisia vulgaris. Native to Eurasia, mugwort is highly invasive in North America, displacing swathes of native plants unable to compete with its perennial spread, fueled by an extensive underground rhizome system.
Midsummer’s mugwort has tender stems. The first thing I was told about mugwort by a local forager on a walk in 2009 was that it would induce vivid dreams if I put it under my pillow.
Mugwort has a long growing season, and multiple useful parts. In very early spring it emerges with soft, silvery leaves at the base of the previous year’s dead sticks.
Spring mugwort before being blanched and folded into bread dough.
Ladybugs hunt mugwort for aphids. European vermouth derives its name from Wermut, German for “wormwood.” And Beifuß—the German name for mugwort—is sold as commercial herb in that country, both dried and fresh.
Eggs on sourdough slathered with tomato-mugwort confit, with shaved radishes and fried mugwort.
One mugwort plant (right) can produce hundreds of thousands of seeds in a season.
Even mugwort’s dry sticks are useful. In early spring a New Jersey grower, Lani’s Farm, sells its silvery sprigs for more than $20 a pound.
Mugwort, sun-dried tomato and garlic confit. The more mugwort is sold, the more familiar greenmarket patrons will become with it and the more often they will recognize it where it grows in profusion, displacing native plants.
Mugwort salt-cured egg yolks. Bear in mind that medicinal applications use a concentrated amount of any herb (and in mugwort’s case the root, too—always a part of a plant to avoid, if you are uncertain).
Raspberries ripen when mugwort is at its juiciest.
Mugwort and raspberry liqueur and jam made from the leftover fruit.
Adapted from Forage, Harvest, Feast – A Wild-Inspired Cuisine. Tilt back and forth until the sugar has dissolved.
Mugwort and Raspberry Liqueur
Frying mugwort leaves takes 4 minutes.
Fava bean and mugwort toast
Fava Bean and Mugwort on Toast
Cooking summer’s fava beans briefly in water laced with fresh mugwort is a rite of high summer.
I like to pop half the cooked beans out of their grey skins, for their textural and color-contrast, but you don’t have to peel them at all, unless they are tough (I happen to like the taste of fava skins, but not everyone does. For the mugwort: Over medium heat, warm the oil in a large pan.
For the beans on toast: Shell the fava beans.