Wild Garlic

[Nice65]

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A tale of caution. I've been foraging for many years. On the weekend a close friend came to visit me, bringing with him a large bag of wild garlic. There were many flowers and leaves, the smell was unmistakable. I did a quick check for any lords and ladies and then blended them into a pesto. Last night I ate a pasta with the wild garlic pesto, very shortly after, I started to feel strange. The most notable effect was my vision became blurred and I experienced a strange halo effect when looking around the room. I immediately suspected poisoning and the wild garlic pesto I had just eaten. I rang 111 and after being assessed was instructed to get to A&E as quickly as possible. What I was displaying were signs of possible Lily of the valley poisoning. A blood test and an ECG later this diagnosis was confirmed, some how a rouge leaf must have found its way into my friends wild garlic collection.
After five uncomfortable hours in A&E with symptoms of nausea and a headache. I drank plenty of water and my sight returned to normal. Today I'm feeling mostly better. I consider myself very lucky that I didn't consume more Lily of the valley which can be deadly. Moral of the story, be exceptionally careful harvesting Wild garlic and make sure you know the look alike Lily of the valley.

 

[Chris]

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A tale of caution. I've been foraging for many years. On the weekend a close friend came to visit me, bringing with him a large bag of wild garlic. There were many flowers and leaves, the smell was unmistakable. I did a quick check for any lords and ladies and then blended them into a pesto. Last night I ate a pasta with the wild garlic pesto, very shortly after, I started to feel strange. The most notable effect was my vision became blurred and I experienced a strange halo effect when looking around the room. I immediately suspected poisoning and the wild garlic pesto I had just eaten. I rang 111 and after being assessed was instructed to get to A&E as quickly as possible. What I was displaying were signs of possible Lily of the valley poisoning. A blood test and an ECG later this diagnosis was confirmed, some how a rouge leaf must have found its way into my friends wild garlic collection.
After five uncomfortable hours in A&E with symptoms of nausea and a headache. I drank plenty of water and my sight returned to normal. Today I'm feeling mostly better. I consider myself very lucky that I didn't consume more Lily of the valley which can be deadly. Moral of the story, be exceptionally careful harvesting Wild garlic and make sure you know the look alike Lily of the valley.

This is a useful guide: https://paulkirtley.co.uk/2012/lily-of-the-valley-convallaria-majalis-ramsons-allium-ursinum/

For me I put the leaves into a sink full of water to wash them off anyway, and remove each leaf individually whilst checking the underside for a more dull, matte look to it rather than a shinier one.

Picking each leaf individually, from as close to the base of the stem as possible is also a good way of avoiding toxic lookalikes. One leaf per stem and you're likely fine. The caveat to this though is earlier in the season, where sometimes the smaller, undeveloped secondary leaves of lily of the valley are not as apparent. I'm a bit hesitant to pick earlier in the season for this reason.

I know a lot of people suggest the 'smell test' to be the best way, but after handling a lot of wild garlic or conducting the smell test on a few other leaves, you're going to be smelling garlic regardless and therefore I'm not convinced that this is as foolproof as people suggest.

 

[Keith_Beef]

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A tale of caution. I've been foraging for many years. On the weekend a close friend came to visit me, bringing with him a large bag of wild garlic. There were many flowers and leaves, the smell was unmistakable. I did a quick check for any lords and ladies and then blended them into a pesto. Last night I ate a pasta with the wild garlic pesto, very shortly after, I started to feel strange. The most notable effect was my vision became blurred and I experienced a strange halo effect when looking around the room. I immediately suspected poisoning and the wild garlic pesto I had just eaten. I rang 111 and after being assessed was instructed to get to A&E as quickly as possible. What I was displaying were signs of possible Lily of the valley poisoning. A blood test and an ECG later this diagnosis was confirmed, some how a rouge leaf must have found its way into my friends wild garlic collection.
After five uncomfortable hours in A&E with symptoms of nausea and a headache. I drank plenty of water and my sight returned to normal. Today I'm feeling mostly better. I consider myself very lucky that I didn't consume more Lily of the valley which can be deadly. Moral of the story, be exceptionally careful harvesting Wild garlic and make sure you know the look alike Lily of the valley.

Since a few posts ago I've been trying to remember the name of either a film or an episode of a series that I've seen sometime in the past few years, where there is a question of a place in the woods that has a reputation for being cursed or enchanted.

As I remember it, boys of between ten and twelve would slope off and go there to get away from adults and household chores; they would hang around, foraging for a bit of food while there, and from time to time one would "fall under an enchantment" and die...

While watching it I was thinking that the boys had collected and eaten something dodgy, and I think that it was lily of the valley that they'd collected, thinking that it was Allium ursinum (ramson).

I've searched, and Breaking Bad comes up all the time, but I've not watched that... Ah, probably it was Outlander...

Forget-me-not: Outlander's Powerful Use of Flowers to Tell Stories - Outlander Cast

FacebookTwitterEmailWritten by: Anne Hawkinson It’s summer, the heat index is unapologetic, and we’re in the very real throes of Droughtlander. What’s an Outlander-obsessed gal to do but hibernate indoors and commit to re-watching every episode. . . again? I just hope my DVDs don’t melt in the...

www.outlandercast.com

 

[Broch]

The real moral of the story, for me, is never trust foraged foods from someone else (especially fungi). Even from shops, I will not buy anything that's labelled 'mixed wild mushrooms' or similar

In my youth I mistakenly ate Wild Arum (Arum maculatum); luckily you can only chew a small amount before your mouth is on fire, so it's hard to eat enough to do real harm. Not pleasant though.

 

[Chris]

The real moral of the story, for me, is never trust foraged foods from someone else (especially fungi). Even from shops, I will not buy anything that's labelled 'mixed wild mushrooms' or similar

In my youth I mistakenly ate Wild Arum (Arum maculatum); luckily you can only chew a small amount before your mouth is on fire, so it's hard to eat enough to do real harm. Not pleasant though.

Professor Gordon Hillman once accidentally ate some toxic mushrooms given to him by researchers who'd got them mixed up with some edible specimens. If it can happen in that sort of setting with that level of knowledge, I can understand your hesitance.