Thank you Wild Garlic
The first shoots appear in early February I spy them en-route to celebrate a friend’s birthday – quick dip in the ocean. There it is a divine sign that winter is nearing its end and spring will all it brings in on its way. Time heading now towards the end of the hungry months, this modest shoot is a sure sign that this potent shoot is the promise of plenty in the months to come.
So thank you wild garlic; enough of the hibernating and the comfort eating: Spring, with lent beckoning, brings a time that supports change, the great rebirth of Easter or Oestre preceded of course by preparation – the great cleanse.
So a timely appearance Wild Garlic: So welcome Wild garlic, great cleanser, cleanser of the blood. And what a generous plant, it gives us its all. The leaves are delicious, succulent and pungent, the flower stalks that eventually follow are crisp, sweet and juicy and finally the cool starry white flower tastes hot and peppery.
The verdant green brightens any dish and lends its bright vitality to a myriad of healthy appetising dishes.
What dish exactly you might ask?
The Answer quite simply is Every Dish.
For example the perennially popular pesto, the bright greet of the garlic leaves will grace both pasta and rice.
Warm wild garlic bread made from a good master baker’s loaf is simply scrumptious and I would recommend Steeple View’s most popular master, Baker Mike Reynolds of Queens Bakery Cardigan.
Not forgetting my personal favourite, with the multiseed loaf of the same Queens Bakery – wild garlic salad sandwich – with mayonnaise – that’s it – simple and just delicious – for extra nutrition try adding a little cheese.
Thinking of throwing a dinner party – Try a seasonal appetiser feta or cheddar cheese parcels – cubes of cheese neatly wrapped in bright green leaves of the wild garlic.
And of course remembering that ‘tis the time of year to get healthy; so salad, salad, salad. Wild garlic leaves tossed in your favourite dressing.
For those chilly evenings it’s still those nutritious warming hotpots and soups, garnished now with chopped bruised leaves of our friend the wild garlic.
Finally– the crystal white blooms of the wild garlic flower found along damp lanes and sumptuously carpeting the budding woodlands of late April and early May, can, as a final flourish, be placed as the crowning glory atop the most colourful dish on the table. Wild garlic: beautifully, tastefully and triumphantly ruling the meal of the day.
