Wild Garlic

[Ronnie]

Just a heads-up that wild garlic is thriving in a woodland near you and is crying out to be picked now!

I confess I didn't take any pictures of the huge verdant beds of pungent wild garlic I found last weekend, but here's some stolen from the internet:

Tastes grate chopped up fine, warmed in melted butter and smeared on bread - grill til a wee bit toasty then serve.

Also want to try the pesto ala Fearnley-Whittingstall:

http://www.rivercottage.net/recipes/wild-garlic-pesto/

 

[treadlightly]

Yes, picked some on Monday and, along with hawthorn and dandelion leaves, they made the basis of a lovely salad.

 

[Melonfish]

this grows by me mixed in with garlic mustard (jack by the hedge) nettles and dandelion, there's hawthorn tree's a little down the way too. what more could you want from a morning walk then a wild salad?

 

[Pandabean]

Saw some a couple weeks back.
Do you use the whole plant, leaves and root or just the leaves? Is there any special prep that needs done to it and or can the parts be added directly to food.

 

[John Fenna]

Eat the flower buds whole as a tasty snack, chopped leaves are great in an omlette, leaves and flowers as a salad ingredient - etc...
I leave the roots to encourage more growth as my very local patch is still quite small...

 

[Ronnie]

Saw some a couple weeks back.
Do you use the whole plant, leaves and root or just the leaves? Is there any special prep that needs done to it and or can the parts be added directly to food.

If you pull it up by the roots and put it in water it will last a few days. Pick just the leaves and it will wilt very quickly. But as John suggests, only de-root it if it's found in profusion to protect the resource.

Can be eaten raw, or used in cooking equally well.

Also known as Ramsons

 

[kodiakjoe]

Eat the flower buds whole as a tasty snack, chopped leaves are great in an omlette, leaves and flowers as a salad ingredient - etc...
QUOTE]
Tried the flowers and buds for the first time last year - real revelation wonder if you could pickle the buds like capers?

 

[dwardo]

this grows by me mixed in with garlic mustard (jack by the hedge) nettles and dandelion, there's hawthorn tree's a little down the way too. what more could you want from a morning walk then a wild salad?

Baby new lime leaves Lucky to have quite a few limes here.

 

[The Big Lebowski]

I tried a few unopened bulbs last week.... Totally different taste to the leaves (ramsons) and really creamy.

Crow garlic's very good too, and should be at its prime end of april, early may

al.

 

[Pandabean]

John, does eating the flower include the fruit?

 

[Bushwhacker]

Ramsons have the benefit of a garlic taste but without making your breath stink.
Something to do with the sulphur molecules (smelly bit) being attached to a protein......... or something like that. I'm sure someone can clarify.

 

[Harvestman]

I've put a whole batch of ramsons in olive oil for use later in the year when they are not around. Dunno if it will work, but it seems worth a try.

 

[Chastiser]

I've put a whole batch of ramsons in olive oil for use later in the year when they are not around. Dunno if it will work, but it seems worth a try.

dont know if this will work but it does for garlic. chop fine and mix with olive oil. pour into ice cube tray and freeze. once frozen take out of ice cube tray and fill up a poly bag in the freezer with the cubes. when you want some garlic just drop a cube into whatever dish you are cooking.

 

[majortee]

can you advise where i can find wild garlic in hemel hempstead

 

[Tadpole]

All wild plants found in this country, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it illegal to uproot them without permission of the landowner.

Section 13(1)(b): 'It is an offence for any unauthorised person to intentionally uproot any wild plant'. Note that this includes all wild plants, protected or otherwise

 

[FGYT]

All wild plants found in this country, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it illegal to uproot them without permission of the landowner.

Section 13(1)(b): 'It is an offence for any unauthorised person to intentionally uproot any wild plant'. Note that this includes all wild plants, protected or otherwise

quite right and something River cottage fails to mention every time they got on a wild food forage

 

[treadlightly]

All wild plants found in this country, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, which makes it illegal to uproot them without permission of the landowner.

Section 13(1)(b): 'It is an offence for any unauthorised person to intentionally uproot any wild plant'. Note that this includes all wild plants, protected or otherwise

So its legal to pick leaves but illegal to uproot the plant, right?

 

[FGYT]

So its legal to pick leaves but illegal to uproot the plant, right?

correct 'uproot being' the key word

alos becomes illegal if you sell the stuff in any way even if you just pick it

oh unless the land is covered by CROW Act 2000 then you cant do anything (thank the ramblers for that one)

 

[Cheyenne]

Uprooted a small bit of this from a huge spread in local woods... Stuck it at the back of my garden and now six years later, it's everywhere...
The flowers themselves are lovely with tuna Mayo in pitta bread and the seed pods are wickedly strong when cracked and tossed in salad... Yum!

 

[Ronnie]

Uprooted a small bit of this from a huge spread in local woods... Stuck it at the back of my garden and now six years later, it's everywhere...
The flowers themselves are lovely with tuna Mayo in pitta bread and the seed pods are wickedly strong when cracked and tossed in salad... Yum!

Great idea - thanks!