I’ve been searching for the last month or so for a good spot for foraging wild garlic, and today (following a tip-off, thank you Alan) we finally found one!
We spent a few hours wandering around this beautiful place, picking a few leaves here, a few leaves there.. and ended up with enough to make all the things we wanted!
Foraging Guidelines
When foraging please remember to be safe and respectful. Here are a few pointers:
- Be 100% sure. This is for your own health & safety! Many plants have poisonous lookalikes, so start with plants you really know. Use a good plant identification guide, or even better, a local person who can identify the plants with you the first few times, until you are confident that you can identify the plant from lookalikes. If you’re still nervous – you can always grow your own plants from seed, so you are 100% sure of the origin!
- Consider the environment. Wild food is usually free of pesticides and fertilizers, but you need to watch out for other things such as pollution and animals. Pick away from busy roads, “above dog height”, and avoid water plants near cattle.
- Allow for continuation. Always leave more than you take. Try to pick a little from several different locations rather than stripping one location. Pick a few leaves from each plant rather than all the leaves from one.
- Be aware of your rights. In England, you can forage for personal use, but not if you’re making products to sell. Check your local laws for rules in your own area. Don’t pick on private property or in conservation areas.
Identification
It’s pretty hard to mistake wild garlic due to the smell of the leaves when broken. However, once that smell is on your hands you may not be able to smell each new leaf, and honestly, who wants to have to do that! The main contender for lookalike status is lily of the valley, so let’s point out the differences:
Scent:
- As mentioned, smell is the easiest identifier. Tear the leaf or crush it between your fingers, wild garlic smells strongly of oniony-garlic. Lily of the Valley has no extra scent when the leaves are torn.
Appearance:
- Roots: Wild garlic grows from a bulb and has rootlets at the very end of it. Lily of the Valley does not have bulbs, instead growing from longer roots with rootlets along the length.
- Leaves: Wild garlic has a more matte finish with more spaced vein lines. Lily of the Valley is slightly shinier with closer vertical veins and crazing between them.
- Leaf Growth: Wild garlic has one or two leaves that emerge separately from the ground, each on its own stem. Lily of the Valley has two or three leaves on the same stem.
Flowers: Wild garlic has star-like flowers with green centers at the end of a stalk, while Lily of the Valley has lots of small bell-shaped flowers that hang down from the length of the stalk.
- Flower Growth: Wild garlic does not have a flower stem until later in the season. Lily of the Valley flower stems appear almost as soon as the leaves unfold.
Habitat:
- Wild garlic grows in moist, open woodlands. Lily of the Valley is a domestic plant which likes the same soil, but is usually found on old farm sites and around homes.
Season:
- Wild garlic emerges earlier in the year. Typically up in very early spring, when Lily of the Valley are just breaking ground.
You can check out the following posts for recipes: