wild garlic season
You have to keep this in mind when collecting in the forest
Be careful when collecting wild garlic,
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In spring, the wild garlic season begins again. But caution is advised: Anyone who picks wild garlic in the forest should know their way around.
Many wonderful dishes can be conjured up from wild garlic, from pasta dishes to soup and butter. The forest herb is in season from the end of March to mid-May. It smells intensely of garlic, tastes slightly spicy and at the same time fresh like spring. But before the forest garlic can end up in the kitchen, you have to go out and look for the pointed green leaves in the forest. Caution is advised here: wild garlic has poisonous doubles that can turn enjoyment into a nightmare. If you want to go wild garlic hunting, you should know the area well and follow a few tips.
Dangerous doppelganger: tell wild garlic and lily of the valley apart
The wild garlic carpets grow inconspicuously on the forest floor, but even untrained noses can smell the garlic-like scents between the trees. It is only when the flower blooms that it becomes clear that it is really wild garlic. The plant looks quite similar to some others – for example the poisonous lily of the valley and the highly poisonous autumn crocus. Since these also bloom in spring, it is difficult for laypeople to tell them apart.
So how are the plants different? If you rub the leaves between your fingers and they smell like garlic, it is wild garlic. Otherwise you should throw away the leaves immediately and wash your hands thoroughly, because the other two are poisonous. But even the sniffing test is dangerous, because once you smell the garlic on your fingers, it can also come from the previous leaf on the next leaf.
Optical differences between the plants
Like wild garlic, lilies of the valley only flower later in the year and grow in the same places in the forest. Accidental consumption can lead to diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abnormal heart rhythms. The autumn crocus, on the other hand, only shows its leaves in spring and only flowers purple in autumn, although it grows in meadows. The consumption of leaves – even cooked ones – often leads to death. Any symptoms that occur should be reported to a doctor or poison control center immediately, as time is of the essence.
There are also optical features on the plants that you can pay attention to. Wild garlic has one or two individual, elliptical leaves with a stalk, smells strongly of garlic and later flowers in umbels. Lily of the valley, on the other hand, has two to three elliptical leaves growing from a pseudostalk, are odorless and the flowers later hang bell-like from the flower stalk. Autumn crocuses have three to four lance-shaped, tulip-like leaves and no stem. They also bloom in the fall. If you pay attention to all of this and pick carefully, you can look forward to delicious wild garlic dishes afterwards.
Preserve wild garlic for a long time
The wild garlic season lasts from around the end of March to mid-May and it doesn’t stay fresh for long. If you want to enjoy wild garlic beyond that, you should stock up, for example in the form of pesto, oil or butter. The wild garlic pesto in particular serves as a wonderful basis for all kinds of recipes.
Ingredients for a basic recipe for about five jars: approx. 1 kg wild garlic leaves, 0.5 l vegetable oil (olive oil or sunflower oil), 150 g cashew nuts, 150 g feta cheese, 30 g coarse-grained sea salt
This is how it works: It is important to wash the wild garlic leaves very thoroughly, then cut off the stalks and spin the leaves thoroughly dry in the salad spinner. Chop the cashews in a food processor and set aside. Then gradually chop the wild garlic leaves in the machine, add oil, salt, feta cheese and chopped cashew nuts in portions and process to a smooth mass. Pour the pesto into the jars, cover with plenty of oil and close tightly.