The best things in life are free… and one of them is wild garlic

John Mulgrew

Wild Garlic

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Wild Garlic

April 24 2021 07:00 AM

It's the punchy, fresh and explosive taste of spring you're after in your home cooking, it's free, and you've likely walked past it and never given it a moment's notice.

Wild garlic is the leafy allium brother to the bulb-based variety, and the scallion, which has as many uses in the kitchen as almost any other piece of fresh greenery, during its spring season.

As I write this, it's towards the height and end of its season. Flowers will soon start sprouting and from then on towards the end of May it will be on its natural decline. Now is the time to grasp a bunch of leaves and head into the kitchen.

It's a versatile allium which can play various roles in straightforward cooking - often a fitting replacement for traditional scallions or herbs.

Tracking it by its heady odour on a warm day - think somewhere between Ray Mears and Scooby Doo - you're as likely to stumble upon it by sense of smell alone. And it seems this year's crop is as prolific outside of the city, as within. From Glenarm Forest, to Crawfordsburn and Cavehill, you're likely to find the leafy green of wild garlic on your journeys.

I tend to come across it in and around trees, but those with a bit of shade. Often, you'll find it surrounded by other foliage which is not edible, such as ivy.

So, be careful what you're picking. Wild garlic has long, green leaves, and normally grows in dense clumps. If you carefully pull it out of the ground, you'll reveal the root which looks like a skinny spring onion. Crush and rub a leaf on your hand and you'll know pretty quickly if it has that heady garlic aroma.

When you get it back to the kitchen, a good wash under a cold tap will ensure anything unwanted is removed.

One of the most obvious ways to both use it, and help it last, is making a simple pesto. A large bunch of fresh wild garlic, pine nuts (or any other unsalted nut), good olive oil, parmesan and black pepper, seasoned to taste.

But it can be used fresh in salads, in the same way you'd treat spring onions or finely sliced red onions. I've also found it does a great job on a traditional, simple Neapolitan-style pizza - a few subtle leaves taking the place of the traditional basil. In general, it's a hearty replacement for fresh, soft herbs.

Like its more kitchen-friendly bulb supermarket brethren, a touch of heat will help mellow some of that sharpness and slightly puckering. So, tossing the pesto through some warm pasta, a touch of butter, and topping with a grating of parmesan is all you'll need for a quick and hearty meal.

One option is serving it in the same style as the US steakhouse classic of creamed spinach. Cooked down with a knob of butter, a touch of nutmeg and pepper, finished with double cream and then blitzed into a rich and thick accompaniment - a savoury umami smack around the chops.

It's also a great way to finish off and help lift fried rice. A simple base of garlic and ginger, rice, egg, peas, seasoned with soy, sesame oil and a touch of five spice, finished off towards the end with a good handful of finely chopped wild garlic.

Others have taken its flexibility even further, including dehydrating the leaves and stalks in a low oven grinding them and then mixing with, and turning them into, a savoury salt. It's a way of preserving and allowing allow the flavours to continue on in your cooking long after the season.

It's such a shame that the talents of some of our best and brightest in the kitchen, including Stevie Toman from OX, haven't able to fully showcase what the ingredient is capable of, due to Covid closure, this year.

But that means there's no excuse for giving it a go. It's one step into foraging and another to a host of new, bold flavour.

The best things in life are free… and one of them is wild garlic

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