Wild Garlic - Is this the season?

[NetFrog]

I found loads of the stuff last year, around May time if I remember correctly. I went back to collect a load come June and it was all wilting and looking not to fresh. From what I have read it grows at its best from late winter until May. Can anyone confirm if this season is correct and that I should be going out collecting now? It is a fair hike from here to the patch but I will be going there Friday anyway, should I bring my shears for it as there is a good several hundred meters of the stuff growing along a huge stretch of woodland. I was hoping to make some pesto out of it!

When we found this patch, we knew it must be there, as we kept saying to each other. "Can you smell garlic?!" I would love to make the most of it this year and get a few jars pickled, pestoed etc..

[The Big Lebowski]

If you mean ramsons... In south wales, theres tons of the stuff now. Even in flower.

I'm not sure if you would need shears. Take your time, a bag and enjoy

P.s its an anual. So sping-march to to june/july ideally. Younger leaves the better.

[NetFrog]

Nice one, cheers. A little later here as it is normally colder probably. I was out doing the speyside way last april/may and there was loads of it. Good to know the seasons now! Off walking there on Friday to I'll bring a baggy

[spandit]

Found a good source locally but not sure how to preserve it as don't have much use for it fresh

[Totumpole]

The trusty Collins Gem says from early march
-ahhh, beaten to it - whilst perusing photos from a year or 2 ago to see the day I became distracted

[mountainm]

Found a good source locally but not sure how to preserve it as don't have much use for it fresh

I think you can blend it up in olive oil to create a pesto, or if thinner just a flavoured oil.

[NetFrog]

Aye thats my plan, pickling vinegar works well too for most herbs, a high density of green to vinegar and then your choice of spices if you want to liven it up a bit.

There is a nice aniseed wild plant growing at the same time of year....

I'll edit the post with it if I can remember it, but I imagine a wild garlic and aniseed mix would blow your mind

[The Big Lebowski]

Just be careful as garlic stored in oil at room temp, or too long in the fridge can produce Botulism...

Its never happend with me, but just to make you aware. http://www.garlic-central.com/dangers.html

[NetFrog]

Sweet Cicely

In fact - I wrote a post about it and wild garlic when if found them last year:

http://www.netfrog.co.uk/posts/Speys...r-Inn_326.html

[NetFrog]

Just be careful as garlic stored in oil at room temp, or too long in the fridge can produce Botulism...

Its never happend with me, but just to make you aware. http://www.garlic-central.com/dangers.html

Humm what has this to do with Ramsons?!

[The Big Lebowski]

Ramsons are wild garlic... wild onion is also refered to as 'crow garlic' and then you have three cornered leek, or garlic depending on where you are from

[NetFrog]

Very different to normal garlic though, which I think the site you referred to is discussing. The garlic in ransoms or "wild garlic" is called so only because of the distinct smell and not because it is a relative. Regardless though, botulism is not a problem with garlic alone, it is a generic problem with all preserved or long stored foods. So care should always be taken!

Not sure about the sulphur issue with botulism, I need to research that one! (yes I read the site!)

[The Big Lebowski]

Was just a general pointer...

Feel free to take, or leave

[NetFrog]

Well I never knew about the botulism in preserved foods so a point I am definitely taking!

[NetFrog]

Last year I said I would make a list of ingredients to make a scottish curry, sourced from the wild. Garlic, onion and aniseed I have figured. Where can I get some hot a spicy?! Other than this I need a ginger substitute, eeek.....

[The Big Lebowski]

No worries... Just a bit of information though. No reason, just though I would point it out

Ramsons, Allium ursinum — also known as buckrams, wild garlic, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, and bear's garlic — is a wild relative of chives

Allium sativum, commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive


So, ramsons are bulbless members of the chive family, which in turn is a memeber of the onion family, of which garlic also belongs to the same family. All one big happy family!

Hot and spicy, horseradish

[NetFrog]

The horseradish I did wonder about! Wild horseradish however.... Do you have some you can send me to try? :-)

[The Big Lebowski]

I might not be able to get some for a few weeks... But, when I do.

No problems

[vinnyp68]

If you are inexperienced in foraging for wild garlic be careful. Often a poisonous plant called arum Maculatum more commonly known as cuckoo pint or lords and ladies grows amongst it. If you look at the 2 together there a are obvious differences but there have bee hundreds of cases of this being picked with ransoms. See here
http://www.selfsufficientish.com/mai...isonous-plant/

[mace242]

I have had some success freezing wild garlic. What I do is wash and dry it then chop. I freeze stems and flowers apart from leaves. Make sure that what you freeze them in is airtight. Will last a good while. If I make a salad I will often just grab a handfull still frozen and sprinkle on.

[treadlightly]

I found loads of the stuff last year, around May time if I remember correctly. I went back to collect a load come June and it was all wilting and looking not to fresh. From what I have read it grows at its best from late winter until May. Can anyone confirm if this season is correct and that I should be going out collecting now? It is a fair hike from here to the patch but I will be going there Friday anyway, should I bring my shears for it as there is a good several hundred meters of the stuff growing along a huge stretch of woodland. I was hoping to make some pesto out of it!

When we found this patch, we knew it must be there, as we kept saying to each other. "Can you smell garlic?!" I would love to make the most of it this year and get a few jars pickled, pestoed etc..

Not sure about Scotland, it might be later for you, but in the Chilterns the wild garlic is out and ready for eating. Picked some on Tuesday and it was delicious. The leaves are still very young and fresh (no flowers yet) and they taste even better than later in the year. Its generally all gone by the end of May/early June.

[oldtimer]

Just be careful as garlic stored in oil at room temp, or too long in the fridge can produce Botulism...

Its never happend with me, but just to make you aware. http://www.garlic-central.com/dangers.html

Thanks for this one. For years I have habitually crushed raw garlic into olive oil and vinegar to make salad dressing in a jug and stored it in the fridge. I think you have explained some mysterious stomach upsets in the past and prevented future ones.

[Bushwhacker]

Wild garlic is about all year round. It's just the leaves and flowers that make a brief appearance.

[blacktimberwolf]

Found a good source locally but not sure how to preserve it as don't have much use for it fresh

Ordinary garlic & chives freeze well....wild garlic probably would too.

[slowworm]

So, ramsons are bulbless members of the chive family, which in turn is a memeber of the onion family, of which garlic also belongs to the same family. All one big happy family!

You mean a bulbed member of the chive family? It's also a perennial, I've grown it from seed and in the first year you get tiny little plants and after two or three they get big enough to flower.

A word of advice to any new forragers out there, as they build up their bulbs to over winter it's best not to strip all the leaves from one plant otherwise it might not be able to store enough to regrow next year.

[NetFrog]

Thanks Slowworm, some good info there. I am walking tomorrow and know a spot where it grows by the shedload so will pick some for my nightly stew! :-)

Worth picking a few bulbs to eat?

[The Big Lebowski]

You mean a bulbed member of the chive family?

My mistake... 'Twas late.