Ever been walking through a wood and suddenly its starts to smell like a vampire’s worst nightmare? Well the chances are you just walked past some wild garlic also known as ramsons. Relatively easy to find and lots of uses wild garlic is considered to be a gateway plant into harder sorts of foraging. It’s available between the end of March through to June. White flowers which are also edible and make a nice garnish for salads appear in June.
It’s usually found in woodland where there is shade. Be careful when picking wild garlic as it bares a resemblance to some poisonous plants. One way to check is rub the leaves between your fingers, it should give off a strong garlic smell.
There are many recipes available for wild garlic but here’s some ideas:
Add leaves and flowers to salads
Mix leaves in with cooked pasta
Add to soups
Replace the basil and garlic in your favourite pesto recipe to make wild garlic pesto
Wilt on bruschetta with tomato, mozzarella and good olive oil. (picture above)
Below is a picture of tagliatelle with wild garlic and mushrooms
