Get ready to forage - the first wild garlic pictures of the year are out!
It seems to get earlier each year but I’m already seeing people publishing pictures of the first wild garlic shoots poking through the leaf litter. My first sighting this year was courtesy of Peak Forager on instagram. Its an exciting moment as it heralds the start of another foraging year with all the expectation of bumper harvests to come.
Wild garlic at the back of the image, with the smaller leaves in the foreground being lesser celandine. Its important when foraging to be 100% sure of your identification.
In reality I think appearance of WIld Garlic (Allium ursinum) sometimes locally called Ramsoms, depends on your location. Sheltered areas with the right balance of shade and dampness are going to be first. In more exposed areas the first shoots may still be a month or so off giving the forager the benefit of an extended season if they are prepared to search around.
Click on the image for a short video showing the picking of wild garlic and locating the Queen Bee in one of our treatment free bee hives. Filming by Paul Stinson of Hovaloft.
What can you do with wild garlic? There are a plethora of uses with not only the leaves but the buds and flowers also being lovely. The bulbs can be eaten but its not good form to dig them up and indeed a responsible forager will only take 10% of the available foliage to ensure the viability of future crops. The early leaves I think are the best - if you leave it too late the large later leaves are not only tougher but I find too harsh in their garlic flavour. So from soups, to herb butters, to pestos, to a steamed vegetable, wrapper for other foods, purees the opportunities to use the leaves are endless. Later an imitation caper can be made by pickling the flower buds, and once the flowers have opened they are beautiful garnishes for salads and other dishes.
More mature wild garlic coming into flower.
Recipes
Here is our recipe for Wild Garlic Butter - a good way to concentrate and preserve it in the freezer.
Some recipes from previous posts:
WIld Garlic Pesto