WILD GARLIC

WILD GARLIC

The woods are full of wild garlic near me and so we picked some whilst on our daily walk.  If you intend to pick some make sure you pick away from the paths where dogs might have been. Wild Garlic is full of vitamins B and C and has been recognised as a treatment for colds and flu for centuries. It is really easy to use, and all of the plant is edible.   When you pick the leaves make sure that you smell them and pick them individually  as Lords and Ladies looks very similar and grow in the same conditions and can easily be picked by accident if grabbing a hand full.  They are poisonous.

I have used the leaves to make pesto, chopped them up and used in home-made bread and cheese scones, added to white and cheese sauce, used in stir fry, stews, soup, on pizza, in quiches and used the flowers in salad.

If I need to store them for a few days in the fridge before use, I put them in an ice cream tub full of water, and wild garlic pesto freezes or keeps in the fridge for a few days. There are loads of recipes on the Internet using wild garlic. We added some to home-made butter and will cut it in slices and freeze to cook with meat or make garlic bread. Tomorrow I am going to make some potato and wild garlic soup, and we made a jar of pesto for pasta this week or to put on toast.

I have some growing at the back of the garden, but they spread a lot if you are thinking of planting some. I also have some in a big pot. I love free food and wild garlic, as well as being nutritious, adds a lovely strong taste to bland foods 😁.  I have just tried the pesto that we have just made, and the vampires will definitely be staying away tonight. 😋

WILD GARLIC PESTO RECIPE

Ingredients

150g of wild garlic leaves, well washed

45g parmesan cheese or vegetarian alternative.

One clove of garlic

Zest and juice from half a lemon(optional)

50g of toasted pine nuts toasted. These are so expensive and  so I usually use rinsed salted peanuts or a mixture of cashew and hazelnuts (optional)

150 ml of cold pressed rapeseed oil ( or any rapeseed oil). We used less as I don’t like pesto really oily.  In the past I have also used vegetable oil when we had no alternative.

Grind of pepper.

Method

1. Roughly chop the wild garlic leaves and put in a food processor.
2. Add the finely grated cheese, lemon rind and juice, nuts and finely grated garlic. Add grind of pepper.
3. Whiz for a few minutes and then slowly add the oil until it is the consistency that you want.
4. Place in a jar in the fridge (it will keep at least a week) or freeze to use later.  I freeze it in small recycled pate containers and some in ice cube trays (I put the cubes in a bag when frozen).  The cubes are great to add to stews for extra flavour.