What can I tell you about wild garlic without appearing to be a nutritionist nerd, a gastronomic geek or a ranting rambler? Well not much because it is positively one of the tastiest, most versatile, and earliest free foods available.
Normally, you would look for the gorgeous green leaf in mid-March and early April, but it’s in February that it starts to produce its pungent Pandora’s Box of flavours and it’s in February – when the leaves are positively at their newest, just out of the ground – that they have the strongest flavour. Milder than garlic, but stronger than chives, wild garlic has many names: 'bear's garlic', 'devil's garlic', 'gypsy's onions', 'stinking Jenny' as well as ‘ramsons’ are just some that I’ve googled, but many nations and cultures have their own names for this wonderfully versatile plant.
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| Freshly picked…. |
It can usually, though not always, be found by water of some kind or another, running or still and it can usually be detected nasally before visually, it has a smell that seems to displace all other fragrances around it. Later in April I have found beds of Garlic near the local river Bewl which have intermingled with bluebells and primroses, but the predominant fragrance is that of the garlic – it carries across the meadows for some distance if the wind is right.
Yet the leaves are only a part of the story. The roots are milder, more subtle and delicate and add a wonderful depth to soups, roasted vegetables and even Sunday joints of meat. The flowers can be added to salads, used to garnish the soups or placed in a vase on the table to add a wonderful smell to the dinner table over and above that of your lovingly cooked meal, like adding an additional sense of the overall flavour.
Please be aware though, that digging up wildflowers can be illegal, and it may also be irresponsible and anti-social – there’s enough for us all to share though, so think of others when you’re out foraging. I like to pick enough for one meal at a time, and in any case, picked garlic does not keep for very long at all. I’ve tried putting the leaves into a vase to keep but they’re gone within 24 hours really. As always food is much better as fresh as it can be.
There’s a very nice recipe here:
But there are so many other dishes that you can use wild garlic in; one of my favourites is roast chicken wrapped in garlic leaves. If you check back HERE, there’s further info on wild garlic soup from my previous blog which is also easy to make and delicious.
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| A mixed bed, but the predominant smell is garlic……. |
Remember, be responsible when foraging and make sure you are certain of what you are picking, but please try some wild garlic this year – I’m sure you will enjoy it.
