INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Jason Michael Thomas, founder of Urban Awareness Gardens, demonstrated how to make several types of pesto using foraged plants and commonly discarded ingredients.

Thomas prepared garlic mustard, ramp, and carrot top pestos, emphasizing ways to use local ingredients and reduce food waste.

He said garlic mustard, an invasive plant, can be turned into a flavorful sauce while helping protect native forests.

“Because it is crowding the woods and is taking over our native forests,” Thomas said. “It’s not letting things grow as ramps.”

Thomas explained that pesto gets its name from a Latin word meaning “to crush,” referring to the traditional method of grinding ingredients into a paste with a mortar and pestle.