Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) has become one of the food joys of spring. It grows in abundance, it's easy to identify, the whole plant is edible, and it can be enjoyed raw or cooked.
Caution: be aware that wild garlic can look similar to a poisonous plant called lily of the valley. The main difference is the smell – wild garlic has a pungent smell of garlic. If in doubt, best not to pick or eat.
Wild garlic is used as a fresh herb for spreads, in soups and sauces or in salads. However, collectors should know the characteristics of the plant well: Wild garlic has some poisonous "doppelgangers." Eating these "doppelgangers" can lead to severe symptoms of poisoning and even death.
Why is wild garlic illegal? Picking the plant isn't illegal, but digging it up by its roots is. In fact, all of Britain's wild plants are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, which means you're not allowed to dig them up and replant them elsewhere.
Are there any poisonous plants that look like wild garlic?
Poisonings occur in spring
Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) is most often confused with wild garlic (Allium ursinum), and more rarely with many-flowered garlic (Allium polyanthum). All three plants grow in spring in the same undergrowth.
How To Forage Wild Garlic - Identification, Health Benefits & Mythology 🌱
Who should not eat wild garlic?
Is it safe to eat wild garlic? Yes for most people. However, it is unsuitable for people already taking blood-thinning medication or who are at risk of a condition affected by blood thinning. Also if you are allergic to the Onion family, do not eat it.
One of the joys of wild garlic is that the whole plant is edible raw and cooked: The subterranean bulb (which you need permission to pull) can be treated as a small onion or calçot. The early shoots work as salad leaves or scatter herbs. The bigger leaves can be chopped and eaten raw or cooked like spinach.
Some people are allergic to plants related to garlic and reported side effects from taking wild garlic range from bad breath and stomach upsets to allergic reactions. Overindulgence in the herb might also cause flatulence and heartburn.
Wild garlic contains disulphides and sulphur compounds that are toxic to dogs and can dissolve red blood cells. However, a dog would have to ingest a relatively large amount of wild garlic to become fatally poisoned. Poisoning can occur at about 5 grams of wild garlic per kilogram of the dog's body weight.
Use as a food All parts of Wild Garlic are edible, so it has a lot of uses in food. However, the bulb is rather small and fiddly to clean. And, of course, digging up of the bulb on commonland or without the landowner's permission on private land is illegal.
What does wild garlic taste like? It obviously tastes like garlic, though not as heavy or as pungent as cultivated garlic. In someways it is more like chives, to which it is related. The softness of the leaves and their mild garlicky taste means they can be used in a similar way to spinach and garlic.
Wild garlic tastes very much like the supermarket garlic you're used to, but has a slightly lighter and less pungent flavour. The flavour of the leaves also tends to mellow as you cook them.
Wild garlic (Allium ursinum) is a tasty and healthy springtime treat that grows in abundance across the country. Foraging for the plant is a popular pastime, but you do need to know how to identify wild garlic and recognise it from its dangerous lookalikes, lily-of-the-valley and autumn crocus.
Wild garlic spreads by the production of underground bulbs, whereas crow garlic spreads easily by bulbils which form in the flowers. These bulbils may remain dormant in the soil for up to six years. The bulbs and bulbils can also persist in garden compost heaps.
Although attractive when in flower, wild garlic can become a problem when allowed to become established, thanks to its numerous bulbs, especially when growing close to cultivated plants and in the lawn. If can soon spread and colonise and take over large areas of the garden. Wild garlic is also known as ransoms.
Wild garlic has a distinctive flavor of garlic, though it is not as heavy or pungent as garlic cloves. Pick a leaf and gently squeeze it, then take a sniff—it will smell garlicky. The leaves smell pungent, but when you cook with them, their taste is delicate and sweeter than you might be expecting.
What does wild garlic look like? Wild garlic is a medium-sized bulbous perennial with a distinctive and pungent garlicky smell that pervades woodland in spring. Leaves: long, pointed and oval in shape with untoothed edges. They grow from the plant base and the bulb and have a strong garlic scent.
What is the difference between wild onion and wild garlic?
The easiest way to tell them apart is by their leaves. Wild garlic has hollow leaves and wild onion has solid flat leaves. Both are noticeable in lawns where they generally grow faster than the surrounding grass.
Like onions and leeks, it contains diallyl disulfide, an anti-inflammatory compound that limits the effects of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, garlic can help fight inflammation and may even help prevent cartilage damage from arthritis.
The whole plant can be used raw or cooked and can usually be found in great swathes making collecting it quick and easy but be careful not to pick up other stray leaves while gathering.
It can be grown from seed or from the bulbs (also edible) or bought as a growing plant. It survives very well in a pot in the garden, just remember to water it regularly during dry spells, give it plenty of shade and a feed every month or so.
Soothing effects on high blood pressure, as we mentioned above, is a headline benefit of consuming wild garlic. Lessen your risk of atherosclerosis, heart attacks, and strokes with this natural healer. Additionally, wild garlic works at lowering cholesterol levels, keeping your heart in good shape as you age.
