Wild garlic
Wild garlic is a beautiful and edible perennial herb that has been cultivated for thousands of years in Asia and Europe. The plant is considered a delicacy and it grows wild in several places in Sweden, not least on Gotland. There, the calcareous soil provides the right conditions for wild garlic. However, it is not a particularly common plant in the wild, and wild garlic is even protected in parts of the country. In appearance, wild garlic looks a bit like lily of the valley, with two dark green leaves. The flowers are white, small and dense.
The flavour is similar to garlic
The green leaves have a flavour similar to garlic, but milder. In some places, wild garlic is also called wild garlic. It is also common to compare the flavour of wild garlic to chives. The whole plant is edible, although it is mainly the leaves that are harvested. The buds are good in pickles if they are harvested just before they open. The flowers of wild garlic can be used as an edible decoration in salads, for example. Wild garlic should be eaten fresh or gently heated. Otherwise, when cooked, the flavours risk disappearing. One way to use wild garlic is in pesto, instead of basil. You can often buy wild garlic where it grows naturally. As it becomes more common to grow wild garlic, it is appearing where it was previously absent.
Tips for those who want to grow wild garlic
Instead of buying wild garlic, you can try planting wild garlic. You can get hold of wild garlic seeds if you want to try growing wild garlic. Whether you will succeed or not depends on whether you can accommodate the special requirements of wild garlic.
- Ramsons thrive in a shady but not too dark place.
- It likes a relatively high pH value, preferably around 7.
- The soil should preferably be moist and have a high nutrient content.
Apart from these requirements, wild garlic is fairly undemanding. Once established in a location, it doesn’t take much to keep it thriving and producing crops year after year. What you can do is to improve the soil’s fertility and nutrient content by adding a little compost from time to time.
Wild garlic has been used as medicine
In some cultures, wild garlic has been used to treat ailments such as inflammation, flu and colds. It is also said that wild garlic has similar health benefits to garlic, but weaker. So you need to eat more to get the same results.
Drying wild garlic
If you choose to dry wild garlic, you will have a spice that can be used for many things. There are different ways to do this. The easiest way to dry wild garlic is to place the leaves on baking paper in an oven dish. Dry in the oven on a low heat for about 30 minutes. You can also place the leaves on a radiator or other warm and airy place. This will take longer, but the flavours will be better preserved than if you choose to flash-dry the wild garlic in the oven.
You can also freeze wild garlic or use it to flavour a long-life oil. Unfortunately, some colour and flavour is lost when you freeze wild garlic.
Author: Johanna Damm
Fact-checked by Erik Hoekstra
Last updated 2022-01-16