I recently spent a couple of wonderfully sunny days with my mum in Cornwall and was amazed to see a carpet of wild garlic flowers along many of the hedgerows we drove past. I couldn’t resist foraging a few bunches of wild garlic, and on my return home I complied a few recipes that I wanted to share with you all.
WHAT IS WILD GARLIC?
With its fresh, garlicky smell wild garlic is an unmistakable scent in woodlands, meadows, riverbanks and forests during the early to late spring months. The wild garlic plant native to Britain, is also known as Bear Leek, Ramsons, Wood Garlic, Bear’s Garlic, Buckrams, Devil’s Posy, Gypsy Garlic, Hog Garlic and Gypsy Gibbles, or Broad-Leaved Garlic.
Native to large parts of Europe, Scandinavia, central Russia and from Spain to the Caucasus and southern Turkey, it also flourishes in North America where it was introduced. Closely related to onions and garlic, wild garlic similarly grow from bulbs; in continental Europe, the bulbs are thought to be a favourite food of brown bears, hence the plant’s scientific name Allium ursinum (bear leek).
Wild garlic is a bulbous-based herbaceous perennial that grows in dense clumps, often carpeting woodland floors in the peak of the season.
Wild garlic flowers form delicate white umbrella-like heads of 6 to 20 white star-like flowers and tend to bloom in mid spring.
The leaves are bright green, flat and broadly lance-shaped, or pointed, and about 20 cm (8 inches) long and grow on a single green triangular stem, but can grow to heights of between 45 and 50 cm.
CAUTION:
Be aware that wild garlic is similar to the poisonous lily-of-the-valley before it flowers. Check by crushing a leaf in your fingers to determine which it is- the pungent garlic scent is unmistakable and confirms you have found an edible plant. If in doubt, do not pick or eat it.
HOW TO FORAGE FOR WILD GARLIC
As wild garlic grows in abundance it is generally acceptable to pick a small amount, and the green, pointed leaves and white flowers are easy to identify, making it a good first foray into foraging. Both the leaves and flowers are edible. Leaves appear in March and the flowers emerge from April to June.
the rules to foraging
There are a few rules to foraging and many countries have national foraging laws to prevent overharvesting, defining where, what, and how much is legal to take.
Ask for permission before foraging on private land and choose unpolluted places far from industrial land, roads, or fields, which are free of heavy metals, pesticides and other toxicants. It’s also really important to follow foraging etiquette so you can gather safely, responsibly and within the law:
- Make sure you know the local laws before you go foraging.
- Always pay attention to and respect local conditions. A plant may be legal to forage, and abundant in some areas, but rare in others. Familiarise yourself with the endangered species to avoid them.
- Harvest only from vibrant plants in healthy sites.
- Pick only the species that are growing in abundance, and don’t take any whole plant. Instead, use a pair of scissors to snip off the plant’s top parts or use a knife to cut mushrooms, thus, you maintain the organism’s ability to reproduce. A good rule of thumb is the 1-in-20 rule, which says that you should never harvest more than 5% of a particular plant or population of plants.
- Avoid trampling down other species. Your harvesting should be spread out over a large area. The site where you foraged should look natural afterwards – as if you had never been there.
- Take only as much as you are able to use, to ensure nothing goes to waste and spread your foraging over a wide area, rather than pick all plants of any species in the same area.
- Don’t harvest what you can’t identify. Never eat anything you cannot positively identify and deem completely safe. If in doubt, take home a small cutting or photograph it and use research resources and experts to help identify the species.
- Only eat a small quantity of any new foraged food. There might be a chance that your body may not tolerate a plant. If you are susceptible to food allergies, have a sensitive digestive system or have a kidney or heart condition, you may have a reaction to some wild food.
Harvesting the leaves
Only pick as much wild garlic as you need. Carefully, pick a handful of leaves without uprooting the bulbs. Choose young and fresh leaves as these have the best flavour. Although animals usually avoid wild garlic, it is always best to wash before eating.
Wild garlic has a lighter flavour to traditional bulb garlic, and although collectively they create a strong pungent garlicy aroma, individually and when added to salads their impact is much less.
Using the leaves
Blend or chop and use like garlic; use as a cooked vegetable or in any recipe calling for garlic, it can also be added to risottos, and makes an excellent pesto which can be added to pasta, soups and tarts and can add a potent garlic punch to salads and sandwiches.
Using the flowers
The flowers make a beautiful edible decoration to savoury dishes.
Related – Foraging For Blackberries
How to store Wild Garlic
Wild garlic can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge if you plan on cooking with your newly collected wild garlic within a day or two after foraging, or like flowers, it can be kept in a glass of water and put in the fridge to help stay fresh for longer.
If you don’t plan to use your foraged wild garlic within a couple of it can be frozen to preserve its freshness and nutrients.
Discard withered leaves or those with stains and rinse and dry the rest. Due to the smooth surface of the leaves, there’s usually little dirt to clean off. Simply place in a freezer bag and freeze. Another benefit to freezing wild garlic is that you can cook with wild garlic out of season.
recipes
Wild garlic leaves are an excellent addition to a cheese sandwich. Whizzed up with walnuts, olive oil and a few tablespoons of parmesan added after, the leaves also make a delicious wild garlic pesto.
Better still, you can create a lovely spring soup from the leaves. Fry an onion in butter until soft and add a finely cubed potato and a bay leaf. After another five minutes frying, add 500ml of vegetable stock and simmer until the potato is soft –about 10 minutes. Add the bunch of wild garlic leaves and cook briefly – no more than a couple of minutes. Remove the bay leaf, blend the soup, add seasoning and you will have a bowl of spring green goodness.
WILD GARLIC PESTO
Ingredients
- 200g hazelnuts, walnuts or pinenuts
- 200g parmesan or Lincolnshire poacher cheese, grated
- 10 large wild garlic leaves
- 50 ml wild garlic oil
- A pinch of coarse sea salt
Makes 450g
METHOD
Wash the wild garlic leaves carefully to remove any soil or dirt. Dry and roughly chop or tear the leaves.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/ 350 farenheit/Gas mark 4. Place the hazelnuts or pinenuts on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 6 minutes or until golden.
If using walnuts you do not need to roast them.
Transfer the nuts to a food processor and add the cheese, wild garlic leaves and oil and pulse until the mixture makes a coarse paste. Taste and season with salt.
How long does wild garlic pesto keep?
The pesto can be used straightaway or stored in a sealed glass jar and kept in the fridge for 3-5 days.
Another handy way to store wild garlic pesto is to freeze it in an ice cube tray and each cube can be added to dishes.
WILD GARLIC OIL
INGREDIENTS
Ingredients
- 1kg freshly foraged wild garlic leaves
- 300ml grapeseed oil
Makes 350 ml
METHOD
Pulse the garlic leaves in a food processor until roughly chopped.
Place the garlic in a clean cloth and squeeze out the water until you are left with a dry ball of pulp.
Return the garlic leaf pulp to the food processor and mix with the oil for 3 minutes or until thoroughly combined.
Drain the garlic oil through a muslin cloth and whatever drips through is ready to use.
Store in a glass bottle with a swing-top cap.
How long does wild garlic oIL keep?
Once made, the oil will last for a week in the fridge, but it can be frozen and used all year round. You can use this oil to make pesto, mayonnaise and it’s brilliant added to pasta dishes, or drizzled over bread to make the ultimate garlicy bread.
WILD GARLIC MAYONNAISE
INGREDIENTS
- 90g wild garlic
- Salt
- 450ml rapeseed or wild garlic oil
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tsp smooth mustard
- 2 tsp white wine vinegar
Makes 2 small jars
METHOD
Rinse the wild garlic and immerse in it in salted boiling water for 35 seconds.
Drain, plunge into cold water and pat dry.
Chop the garlic and place in a blender.
Add the rapeseed oil gradually, increasing the blender’s speed as you add more, until the mixture is a bright, vibrant green.
Whisk the egg yolks, mustard and vinegar until smooth, pouring in the wild garlic oil gradually, as you whisk.
When it is a thick mayonnaise like consistency, it’s ready to serve. It comes out a light green colour but is delicious! Season to taste.
How long does wild garlic mayonnaise keep?
Wild garlic mayonnaise should be stored in the fridge at a temperature to 40°F (7°C) and will last up to 3 – 4 days. If the container in which you store the mayonnaise is open, then the shelf life will be reduced from 1.5 to 2 days, because when the ingredients of mayonnaise interact with air, they begin to oxidize.
Mayonnaise can’t be frozen, as it is an emulsion—combining ingredients that don’t typically mix well together. As mayonnaise thaws, that emulsion will break, leaving you with the liquid, acidic ingredients, and oil floating on top of the yolk base.
PICKLED WILD GARLIC SEED PODS
INGREDIENTS
- 100g wild garlic seed pods
- 25g sea salt
- 45g caster sugar
- 100ml water
- 60 ml white wine vinegar
- 60 ml malt vinegar
Makes 1 small jar
METHOD
Carefully pick the seed pods from the stems – they should be clean of any stalk.
Mix the salt, 15g of the sugar and the water together in a saucepan and bring to the boil.
One the salt and sugar have dissolved, leave it to cool completely,
Place the seed pods and the water in a vacuum-pack bag and compress fully, or alternatively mix together in a bowl and wrap tightly in clingfilm.
Leave in the fridge to marinate overnight.
Drain and rinse the seed pods. Bring the vinegars and the remaining sugar to the boil in a saucepan.
Place the seed pods in a sterilised preserving jar and pour in the hot pickling liquid.
Seal and leave in the fridge for at least a month before eating.
How long will Pickled Garlic Seed Pods keep?
The seed pods are probably the strongest part of the wild garlic plant. Once pickled they get better with age, losing the harsh garlic flavour and mellowing to a sweet crunchy caper flavour.
CHICKEN WITH WILD GARLIC
INGREDIENTS
- 4 large chicken breasts, skin on
- 1 litre 4.5% salt brine (40-50g salt per 1 litre water) flavoured with thyme and rosemary
- 160g butter
- 8 young onions
- 250ml chicken stock
- 1 small bunch thyme
- 50ml white wine
- 5g xanthan gum
- 60ml vegetable oil
- 4 large wild garlic leaves
- 1 tbsp wold garlic oil
- 100g pickled wild garlic seed pods
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the Dressing/Garnish
- 50g chicken glace (1 litre of chicken stock boiled until it turns a light brown colour and should set hard when cold)
- 40 ml white wine vinegar
- 40g English mustard
- 230 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 32 wild garlic flowers
Serves 4
METHOD
Cover the chicken breasts in the cold brine and leave to marinate overnight in the fridge.
The next day, remove the chicken from the brine and rinse, then pat dry.
Pan fry the chicken breasts until slightly golden.
Meanwhile, trim off the green part of the young onions, quarter them. Combine the stock, remaining butter.
And the thyme in a saucepan, boil until the butter melts and then add the white wine. Gently simmer the onion until they soften and the liquid reduces into a glaze.
Season the mixture, then strain to remove the thyme. Blend in the xanthan gum with a hand blender and strain again.
To make the dressing, warm the chicken glace in a small saucepan until melted. Add the vinegar and mustard and whisk thoroughly to combine. Transfer to a blender and blend on a low to medium speed, whilst gradually adding the oil as if making mayonnaise.
When the oil is fully incorporated, the emulsion should be bright yellow and very thick and glossy. Transfer to a piping bag and keep warm.
To finish, heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based frying pan over a high heat and add the chicken breasts skin side down. When cooked, allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Dip the garlic leaves into the water for 4 seconds – just long enough to wilt the leaves and calm the pungent flavour. Brush the leaves with wild garlic oil.
Place the chicken breast in the middle of each serving plate. Top the chicken with both the pickled and young onions and dressing. Serve sprinkled with the wild garlic seed pods and a blanched garlic leaf on top.
Garnish the leaf with wild garlic flowers.
BEAN BURGERS WITH CARAWAY AND WILD GARLIC
INGREDIENTS
- 400g cooked kidney beans
- 400g cooked black beans
- 1 tsp sea salt and 2 pinches of freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pinch of freshly ground caraway
- 2 bunches of wild garlic leaves
- 1 yellow onion, peeled and roughly sliced
- 1 tbsp wild garlic oil
- 2-3 tbsp potato flour
- Vegetable oil for frying
To Garnish
- 1 bunch of wild garlic flowers
- Lettuce leaves
- Garlic mayonnaise to taste
Makes 8 small or 4 large burgers
METHOD
Drain the beans thoroughly.
Blanch the wild garlic leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds, then cool in cold water, drain. Dry and finely chop.
Blend the spices, garlic leaves, onion, and oil. Add the beans and blend briefly – the beans should still be chunky.
Add the potato flour so that the burgers can be shaped into patties. Fry in oil until golden brown on both sides.
Serve the burgers with lettuce leaves, drizzle with wild garlic mayonnaise and garnish with wild garlic flowers.
