1:09 AM
makbul e mawla
Any garlic lover who goes down to the woods
today is in for a pleasant surprise: wild or bear's garlic is in season now
 |
| Wild garlic, aka ram sons, wood garlic and
bear's garlic, growing in |
After months of stored roots and fruits,
spring comes to the larder in swathes of glorious green. But as welcome as
shop-bought offerings of asparagus, young spinach and purple sprouting broccoli
are, the real treats don't come neatly packaged. Right now, anyone fond of a woodland walk has an extra
reason to don their wellies: at this time of year wild
garlic is prolific.
A member of the Allium family,
the plant's elegant broad, pointed leaves have the same pleasing combination of
sweetness and astringency that make leeks, onions, spring onions, chives and bulb garlic so
useful in the kitchen. Although edible, the bulbs of the wild garlic plant are
usually too small to be of much use and if you ever buy a bunch you're unlikely
to see any bulb at all (digging the bulbs out means no foliage for next year).
The characteristic white flowers however, are perfectly edible – and pretty too
– although the plant is at its best before too many flowers appear, signalling
tougher leaves and a more bitter flavour. In April, when wild garlic is at its
peak, you are more likely to find delicious tight buds than open flowers.
Like most people, I'm loth to ingest anything that tastes foul just for its health benefits. So the fact that wild garlic, like its cultivated relatives, is extremely good for you as well as delicious is an added boon. Eaten raw the leaves are at their most pungent and fiery, but they come into their own when cooked. In fact they are almost endlessly versatile: quickly blanched or wilted in olive oil they make a delicately garlicky alternative to spinach (but bear in mind they perform the same trick that spinach does of turning a carrier bag stuffed full of leaves into a measly side portion for two).
Like most people, I'm loth to ingest anything that tastes foul just for its health benefits. So the fact that wild garlic, like its cultivated relatives, is extremely good for you as well as delicious is an added boon. Eaten raw the leaves are at their most pungent and fiery, but they come into their own when cooked. In fact they are almost endlessly versatile: quickly blanched or wilted in olive oil they make a delicately garlicky alternative to spinach (but bear in mind they perform the same trick that spinach does of turning a carrier bag stuffed full of leaves into a measly side portion for two).
The season for wild garlic leaves is short –
they're gone by June – but they are one of the most abundant wild foods and
come into their own when paired with other spring ingredients. Served
with jersey royals andasparagus alongside roast chicken or
spring lamb they're a seasonal dream.
Eggs are also a natural bedfellow - in an
omelette or frittata or woven into a plate of buttery
scrambled eggs. Soothing spring risottos tame the wild leaf and it
makes an excellent pesto. Of course, there's no reason
not to use it in less orthodox ways as these spicy and moreish wild garlic and quinoa cakes demonstrate.
And in a soup it is an excellent foil for a host
of other fresh, green ingredients.
If you're a garlic lover but not a habitual
forager, you might worry about the chance of picking something poisonous, and
the wild garlic leaf looks very similar to that of the fragrant yet toxic Lily
of the Valley. While misidentification is a real hazard with wild mushroom hunting there is no
mistaking wild garlic unless you have a really, really bad cold; for a failsafe
test, take a leaf and crush it in your hand, then inhale. And if your foraging
range is limited to a wander round the nearest farmers' market you
will almost certainly be able to buy bunches alongside other seasonal veg,
although it does rather take the fun out of it.
Posted in: Health Tips
0 comments:
Post a Comment