I wait for the wild garlic in the Spring with the same anticipation that I have for a new Jeanette Winterson novel. I know that once it’s here, I have a very long wait for my next indulgence so it’s an experience to be met with joy and savoured.

Wild garlic is highly adaptable and can be eaten raw. Whizz it into a herb oil, add to a pesto or toss a few leaves into a salad. Wild garlic can be fermented into kimchi or sauerkraut too.

Wild garlic sometimes goes by the name of ramsons, ramps, bears garlic, buckrams, bear leek, broad leafed garlic or wood garlic. Whatever the name you know it as, it’s a delicious herb.

The first shoots of wild garlic are sweeter and tender, then giving way in a month or so, to flowers and then a week after that, to seeds.

 If you are lucky enough to find some wild garlic, when picking the leaves, pick two or three leaves carefully from the plant and then move on to another plant. Avoid picking all the plant and the buds. You want them to go on to develop flowers, then seeds and that will add to next year’s crop. Sustainable picking means that you will always be well fed by wild garlic. Always follow the bylaws for where you are foraging and ask the landowner’s permission.   

 Wild garlic salsa verde is a delicious way to capture the essence of early Spring. Add a spoonful or two to a dressing, fold into a tree nut cheese or hummus, swirl into a soup or add to your favourite noodles.  If you top it with oil to seal it, it will sit quite happily in the refrigerator for 10 days. Alternatively, freeze it in ice cube trays then once frozen, pop them out and store in an airtight container and defrost one cube as required.  

There’s more about gathering and using wild garlic here.

WILD GARLIC SALSA VERDE

INGREDIENTS

4 tablespoons pine nuts

A large bunch of wild garlic (about 140g)

4 – 8 tablespoons grapeseed oil or extra virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon sea salt

METHOD

Rinse the wild garlic and pat dry thoroughly. In a mini food processor, whizz up the pine nuts to form a crumb. Set aside. Then roughly chop the wild garlic and add it to the processor with enough oil to get it going. Add the fine sea salt and pulse the salsa streaming in more oil so it’s a chunky paste. Pulse the crumbed pine nuts through so they are well-dispersed.  

Pour the salsa verde into a jam jar and over with enough oil over the top to seal the contents so they are not exposed to air. Secure the lid on the jam jar.  

Store in the refrigerator for up for 10 days or portion into ice cube trays and store in the freezer.