Wild Garlic

For a lot of people, wild garlic, also known as ramsoms, opens their eyes to the abundance of wild-growing food there is available for foraging. Unlike identifying potentially deadly mushrooms, it’s incredibly easy to recognise, thanks to its magnificent scent. Indeed, walking though a damp wood on a warm day you can be hit by great wafts of it long before you realise you’re inadvertently making pesto underfoot! There’s evidence it was eaten by Celtic Britons over 1,500 years ago too, so there’s something spellbinding about imagining our predecessors doing just what we do, come early spring. 

Though wild garlic goes forth and multiplies at a rate we can only compare to our troublesome rabbit population, and carpets vast swathes of ground, if you don’t know a good spot to find it, don’t worry, we’ve got plenty! Allowing us to do the picking for you, also means you can rest in the knowledge it’s come from certified organic land, harvested sustainably, and that you’ve avoided getting into any scrapes with farmers after straying off the public footpath! 

Other than giving it the pestle and mortar treatment (and not just with pine nuts for blobbing over spaghetti, try it in a salsa verde), it’s exceptional wilted into soups and stews, where it’s not overpoweringly strong. You could team it with other wild leaves that appear at the same time, such as nettle and sorrel. How about making a ricotta or tofu filling to stuff giant pasta shells or roasted squash with? Or maybe a flavoured butter for wild garlic bread?