JanineBy Clarrie Ramsden, Climate Action Seacroft
Foraging is all about finding free food out in the wild. It could be plants that we are familiar with, such as apples and plums, or it could be unfamiliar yet very tasty.
In this edition, we are going to look at Wild Garlic, now fully in season, and how to use it to enhance your food.
Allium ursinum, known as wild garlic, ramsons, cowleekes, cows’s leek, cowleek, buckrams, broad-leaved garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, Eurasian wild garlic or bear’s garlic, is a perennial plant, so it comes back every year. It grows in woodland, and it has smooth, wide and pointy leaves with a garlicky aroma. When gathering it, only take a few leaves from each plant, and never take the whole plant. Be aware of your surroundings, don’t pick in areas by a lot of traffic, and think about dog wee! Give it a good rinse before using it. If in doubt, don’t pick it.
Wild Garlic Salt
An easy recipe is for Wild Garlic salt. It keeps well and is easy to use and store. Take a small handful of wild garlic leaves, wash and pat dry. Put it into a blender, add coarse salt and whizz. It makes a lovely fragrant salt; store it either in a dark place or a dark well-sealed jar to retain the colour, and use it to flavour bread, butter, pasta and other savoury dishes.
Wild Garlic Pesto
Garlic Pesto is another easy make. Again, use a handful of washed and dried Wild Garlic. Put it in a blender with a handful of toasted nuts or seeds; add a splash of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice, and a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Blend, and adjust the texture by adding more oil if it is a bit thick. A hard cheese like parmesan can be used too. I like to use either toasted pine nuts, toasted sunflower seeds, or actually whatever is lurking in my store cupboard! Stir through pasta: delicious!
Enjoy, and let us know how you get on.
There are many places across East Leeds where you can pick wild garlic. Look for it by streams in places like Roundahy park ravine, Wykebeck Valley Trail, Temple Newsham, Gipton Wood, and Beckett Street Cemetary.
And send us some pictures of your favourite wild garlic spots and your amazing creations with wild garlic
You can reach us at editor@eastsidestory.uk
