You’ll smell wild garlic, before the full leaf cover obliterates the sunshine that reaches the woodland floor. It represents the not-so-subtle micro season in between the end of winter and the shift to spring, with a commendable support act of other fabulous plants that together get the growing season underway.
It’s a carpet of dense leaves, with the star-shaped white flower buds emerging to bloom from April to June. An indicator of ancient Chilterns woodland, you’ll often find bluebells in the same woods. These are special places, so please don’t pick more than you need, believe me you don’t need much to get the full flavour! This will also leave some for the woodland creatures who depend on the bulbs, leaves and flowers.
Allium ursinum: wild garlic is also known as ramson, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek and bear’s garlic. The second half of the Latin name, ursinum, refers to the fact that brown bears loved to eat the bulb as they emerged from winter hibernation. This also gave rise to two of its common names – bear’s leek and bear garlic, harking back to the days when there were bears in the woods, doing their thing.
It is a popular foraged ingredient because the flowers and leaves can be eaten in salads, used in place of spinach, or made into a delicious pesto. Your tolerance of garlic is the only limit! The best way to check that you've picked wild garlic is to crush the leaves in the palm and take a sniff. If it smells like garlic, then you've picked the right plant.
A recipe for success
Here is a recipe to try, but go sparingly, unless you don’t want to speak to anyone for at least a week. I prefer the leaves before the flowers appear.
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