Wild Garlic Recipes
Anyone who’s walked through a wood and smelt that distinctive onion-y smell has been near one of the commonest, but little used, wild foods. Wild Garlic (Alium ursinum) or ransoms is common in woods all over the UK. There are usually plenty of them – they spread rapidly once they’re established.
Ransoms have glossy flopped-over, rabbit-ear shaped leaves and white, star-shaped flowers. They’re easy to identify, because you’ll be able to smell them. Fortunately, they don’t taste nearly as strong as they smell!
Unlike cultivated garlic, the bulbs are very small and not worth bothering with. Just cut some leaves at the base without disturbing the plant. The leaves can be eaten raw or cooked.
I think the best uses for them are the simplest: an omelette made with your freshest eggs with some garlic leaves snipped into them.
For something more substantial:
Wild Garlic and Potato Soup
25g butter
couple of handfuls of wild garlic leaves
2 medium-sized potatoes
800 ml of chicken or vegetable stock
salt & pepper
Melt the butter in your soup pot. Roll the leaves, cigar-fashion, and then slice across into strips. Add them to the pot and put the lid on. Let them soften in the butter while you peel and chop the potatoes into cubes. When the leaves are wilted add the potatoes and the stock. Bring up to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are really soft. If you like, add a spoonful of cream and liquidize the soup.
They’re also good in Chinese-style stir frys with some ginger and a splash of soy sauce.
Ransoms have the same health benefits as cultivated garlic, in fact they are thought to be superior. Tucking in might also keep away those troublesome midges (see blog http://www.woodlands.co.uk/blog/wildlife/midges-mosquitoes-and-marmite-coping-with-insects-in-woodlands/) !
Does anyone know if you can use the flowers and seeds like you can with chives?
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15 comments so far
Lesley
1 July, 2008
Yes the flowers are edible and are good in salads. I would only use the newest leaves otherwise they can be a little tough.
Andy
8 July, 2008
Hi,
I’ve just bought a piece of woodland and would like to introduce some wild garlic to it. Would anybody be able to supply me with some, whenever it’s the best time to plant it.
catherine
20 July, 2008
Hi Andy – I’m sure somebody might give you some (some people look on them as a bit of a pest), but failing that http://www.wildflowershop.co.uk/ have ransoms in their bulbs section.
Andy
31 July, 2008
Hi Catherine,
Thanks for that. I didn’t know that Ransoms had so much,probably be easier to get them there.Problem is that’s another web site where I’m now going to spend hours!.
Andy
Angela
8 April, 2009
I use the leaves when I am roasting chicken, lamb, etc. I also add them to casseroles.
I live in woodland so there is masses.
Richard
20 February, 2010
The very best bit of the wild garlic plant is the flower pods, just before they pop. Sautee them in a half butter, half olive oil until they begin to turn a little brown at the edges. Delicious!
lewis
3 April, 2010
i think that the clove bit of the wild garlic is the best been made into a puree and mixed with the chopped leaves and stuffed in woodcock with a nice rabbit meat stock to go with it. extreemly delicious
Auriel
17 April, 2010
With amazing suddenness it’s Spring! During the Winter I’d forgotten the delights of foraging. Now, surrounded by young garlic leaves, I can’t decide which recipe to go for first. And nearby there are the nettles, young, fresh greens – so appealing at this time of year!. And very soon there will be sorrel. Just as well these are rather time-consuming to pick or I’d be tempted to eat more than is good for me! . And all of them growing in my garden – as weeds! What richness!
By the way it’s ramson not ransom. I get it wrong half the time when speaking it. Easier to say wild garlic – but as I see “ramson” isn’t recognised by my computer’s American spelling check perhaps I’ll persist with it!
Diane
22 April, 2010
I made a lovely soup today. Ramsons, good vegetable stock (can use free range chicken stock), potato, 1 stick of celery and lettuce. I added (Elmlea) single cream after cooking had finished and seasoned carefully. Delish!!!!
Will
27 April, 2010
Medicinally, wild garlic is an excellent blood tonic, and whole-system cleaner. It also stops you being bitten by midgeys and mozzies, as it makes your blood more bitter, and the biters like sweet-blood.
It is not as universally available as sometimes thought – in East Kent, with mostly chalk soils, it is rarer than the ever-pervasive and seemingly useless Dogs Mercury. But there are patches of the right woodlands, where it out-competes every other flora, and makes for delicious pickings.
I make a pesto, with cashews, olive oil, parmesan, salt pepper, and lots of galric leaves and bulbs, all blended together. A ratio of 2 parts garlic to 1 part everything else. It is very very good. A handful of chickweed also makes the taste even better – another much under-valued weed, with added benefit of skin cleansing effects.
Also – a tincture, of garlic leaves in 40% alcohol, makes a strong medicinal tonic. Mix it with Elderberry tincture, for a winter cold-relief.
But best of all is raw raw raw…the taste and scent are with you all day, so be ready for fools in foul perfumes making clever-clog comments.
So not only does the wild garlic keep you healthy, it keeps you safe from numptys.
happy garlicking, all.
Joe
24 May, 2010
I have just discovered a large patch of Wild garlic in a wooded area near my home. I took a few leaves home to check if they the correct thing. I am delighted to say that they are the real deal and delicious. I will be going back tomorrow and picking a substantial amount to use in the various recipes I have found on here.
Melody
27 June, 2010
I have a huge amount of ramson in my garden its spreads all over but it makes the whole garden smell amazing, I am going to use all parts of it to cook with as I hadn’t seen any usful recipes before now. So potato, garlic and leek soup and some garlic foccacia bread here I come!
Dawn
17 April, 2011
I am lucky and very happy to live on the isle of. Wight there is a village near me called shorewell and every road in and out of village has ransoms growing have just picked loads now going for a feast
Alan
24 April, 2011
Have got wild garlic growing in frong garden of house, End terrace and garden about 6feet square, the question I have is can the leaves be frozen and if so how best to store them
Sonia
9 May, 2011
I have quite a patch of wild garlic growing in my garden in the Highlands of Scotland. I’ve only just started to use it, last year and now this spring. Try layering some leaves in Dauphinoise potatoes, or wrapping the leaves around carrot sticks and tying with chives then decorated with the blooms! Looks superb on the plate. Just need more time to harvest and store it!!