Wild Garlic and Rhubarb

[littlewolf]

Can anyone tell me how to find and positively identify wild garlic? I drive home a few times a week along a green lane and towards the end of the lane there is a definate 'Garlic' smell in the air but i don't have a clue what to look for.

I also think I've found some Rhubarb on the same lane (from how I remember it lookin in my next door neighbors garden as a kid). I'll try to get some photo's up of what i think is rhubarb if i can find the lead for me phone.....

of coures i might be wrong about both dont even know if its the right time of year but if you dont ask.....

 

[stuart f]

Hi littlewolf,heres a link to Ramsons,you can certainly smell them when you pass by a patch.

http://www.floralimages.co.uk/palliuursin.htm

Hope this helps.
Cheers Stuart.

 

[Leigh Robinson]

They absolutely reek of garlic. Quite long broad lushious leaves. Easily identifiable when you know what you are looking for and they often come in large patches too. Take a bit of the leave and smell. If it smells, taste a little.

Bewarned using it as fish parcels then eating it leads to a few days of 'sloppy bum'! Use a little shredded to salad or as a herb flavouring with food.

 

[deeps]

as said Ramsons smell unmistakebly of garlic. Where we are the woods are absolutley full of them - I mean acres of them. We eat the leaves nearly every day from March throught to nearly June, it is our primary wild green during this period. Typically they will be chopped in a curry/stew or mixed in with potatoes (very good). Also good in salads or just slipped into a cheese or ham sandwiches!. They loose some of their pungency when cooked. They die away as soon as the ash trees in the wood gets its foliage which is soon. Not sure if they are more prevalent in the west of UK.

I wish I knew a way to preserve them as the leaves wilt very quickly. Had visitors from the smoke the other week who had only ever seen them as a mysterious extra in their Riverford veggie box ! They left with loads and fully educated on its potential uses.

 

[jimford]

I also think I've found some Rhubarb on the same lane (from how I remember it lookin in my next door neighbors garden as a kid). I'll try to get some photo's up of what i think is rhubarb if i can find the lead for me phone.....

Be careful - rhubarb is not a British native plant, though it's been here for a long time. IIRC 'The Oxford Book of Food Plants' states that it originated in Siberia. I've never seen it except in a garden or abandoned allotment, although it's possible that someone dumped a 'stool' by the roadside and it's 'taken'.

Jim

 

[Melonfish]

aye not hard to spot ramsons with those long spear like leaves and distinctive smell!
i remember charging around phoenix airsoft a while back and i kept smelling this garlic smell and at lunch i asked if someone might be cooking spag bol nearby. the site marshall laughed and pointed to my feet. the whole place was covered with ramsons i'd been rolling in em all day.
when i got home swmbo wouldn't go near me and reckoned i'd scared every vamp in a 20 mile radius away

 

[Bongo Matt]

great with shellfish too

 

[Rebel]

There's also Mustard Garlic growing abundantly here in the South of England at the moment.

It's edible and has a garlic flavour. Not as strong as ramsons but easy to find.

http://www.english-country-garden.com/flowers/garlic-mustard.htm

 

[jimford]

Yeah - 'Garlic Mustard' or 'Jack by the Hedge'. As its name implies, it's often found by hedges or roadsides. Unfortunately its situation simply begs dogs to pee on it!

Jim