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The nettles are breaking into flower and the leaves of the wild garlic are looking wilted. The fantastic foraging of springtime greenery is nearly over for the year, at least around Torquay, but there is still a couple of weeks or so to enjoy pickings.
The first thing I've preserved this year is Wild Garlic Oil. A book I was flicking through and have since forgotten mentioned it (along with putting wild garlic in tomato sauce which was yum... I wish I could remember that books!) no recipe but not that hard to cobble together. I roughly chopped some wild garlic leaves and covered them with oil in a jar. Left in the pantry for two weeks it came out yesterday for a good strain, bottle and labelling.
Wild garlic flowers are out right now and they have a pleasant garlic taste and a show stopping look. Especially if you take more care with your salads than I do! Also in my salads are foraged garlic mustard leaves. Other offenders in that salad are home-grown rocket, oak leaf, salad bowl and baby chard leaves, croutons and some west country blue cheese that we picked up at a food fair.
And, of course, wild garlic (yes, it is rather a theme isn't it) makes an incredible garlic bread made with one of my home made baguettes. The sauce on the pasta is a basic tomato sauce with nettle leaves thrown in at the end until they are just wilted. And no, not stinging.
I love your foraging..I have started to try my hand at it in our backyard. I will have to look for wild garlic..so far just dandelion leaves, chives, and clover. Lovely baguettes!
ReplyDeleteI know this would sound odd to most people but I would kill for a back yard with dandelions in!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately I think wild garlic (or what I call wild garlic also known as Ramsons or in the latin Allium ursinum) isn't found outside of Europe.