This wild garlic recipe is a great way to preserve the annual wild garlic gluts. I always make it my mission to make a few jars of this puree so I can use it through the year.
Preserving this gourmet plant has become something of an annual celebration for me, as it means the beginning of Spring, and the return of the Sun.
BOTULISM ALERT: DO NOT USE THIS RECIPE (It is for information purposes only): Please read Zoe Hawes’ pertinent comments below about botulism contamination. Also checkout the PDF by the UK Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food, Clostridium botulinum & Vegetables in Oil. Here is what the Oregon State University have to say on the matter: “Raw or cooked garlic and/or herbs in oil – These mixtures MUST be refrigerated. Do not store them longer than 3 weeks in the refrigerator. Note: Raw garlic MAY be safely stored in vinegar at room temperature.
CASES OF BOTULISM IN THE UK: According to the NHS, “Botulism is relatively rare in the UK. There have only been 33 recorded cases of food-borne botulism in England and Wales since 1989. Twenty-seven of these were linked to a single outbreak that was caused by contaminated hazelnut yoghurt. Since 1978, there have been eight cases of infant botulism. None of these cases resulted in death.”
Ingredients
- 500g of pre-flowering wild garlic leaves
- 500ml of light olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
Suggested Instructions
- Gather your wild garlic leaves on a dry day.
- Roughly chop them, then put in a food processor along with olive oil and the sea salt. Blitz until pureed.
- Pour into clean sterilised jars, making sure that there is a small amount of olive oil covering the contents.
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We do similar but leave it fairly thick and shove it into the freezer in small pots. We then cook from frozen as part of pasta sauces…
Nice to have it all year round.
For a longer term storage or for storage without refridgeration, I like to cover the top if the puree with gently warmed coconut oil which then solidifies as it cools and leaves a perfect seal on the top.
I must try this. Does it stay bright green for long?
I go a little further and make a pesto, which keeps just well in a sterlised jar and is great in pasta, or used to make a garlic bread. I also make wild Garlic soup, which I eat to warm me up when I get in, or freeze small batches.
I have grown up in Switzerland and remember as a child going to collect wild garlic, and mum used t like spinach. So when the offer came for me to dig some up, and plant it in y garden I jumped at the chance. Love it.
I’ve frozen it successfully by blanching for a second in boiling water, and then squishing into balls (like bought frozen spinach) – gets a lot into a small space!
Have a bag of frozen wild garlic, can I de-frost and do this with it?
Is anyone knows where wild garlic grows near North London or in Kent?
Last year I picked it in Dunster but no going there this year.
Thank you.
A great idea mate. I never thought to preserve it! I know it keeps really well when i bang it in a zip lock bag and put in the fridge but what a great idea for a preserve. Any idea if you can keep the flower heads like this? They are definately my favourite. Great post mate!
Great idea for preserving – we’ve been collecting wild garlic ourselves, and then got even more in our veg box, so plenty of it! Kelly, if you can get to Maidstone, there’s plenty of it in Loose Valley in a few different places – simply enjoy the walk and keep your nose alert, you can’t miss it! It’s mainly on the higher ground up amongst the trees.
Thanks for a great and simple recipe Robin. Went out today on the edge of Dartmoor and found a whole bunch of wild garlic and thought of this recipe. Blended all the ingredients together and jarred it up, smells beautiful, looks awsum, and tasted so rich, and the main ingredient is free! can’t wait to start experimenting with this in my food! Thanks man!
When we moved to our house 12 years ago, we found some in the local woods, so “borrowed” a clump and set it in the end of the garden… Now the whole back is a wash with the stuff… We’ve always enjoyed tossing the flowers into salads, but never thought of doing anything else… Reckon it’s time to go have a little tidy up and bring it into the kitchen…
Oil+fresh plant material=prefect environment for botulism.
There are cases documented and food hygiene/health agency says son’t do it. Now, while I don’t strictly adhere to much of their advice in my own home, personally I would be loath to tell others how to make botulism in a jar just in case it came back and bit me on the behind.
You can inhibit botulism by:
Adding 10% salt
Adding lots of vinegar or lemon juice
Heating the jar of stuff by “canning”. 70 ish for about 20 mins
Freezing it
Fridge it and use within a week
Sorry to be bearer of geek info – kept seeing this on FB and felt duty bound to post about it here.
Zoe: Thanks for your concern and comments, however I feel it would be useful to us all if you could cite links to the research you mention. I have just searched the food standards agency site and cannot find the warning you claim.
I didn’t mention research but documented cases.
I researched the topic thoroughly during my Medical Herbalist Training 15 years ago and again 5 years ago when I wrote a book.
If you google “oil herb botulism” you will find plenty of info and advise. Here’s one to get you going.
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/securit/kitchen-cuisine/oil-lhuile-eng.php
Zoe
Ok thanks Zoe. Will research and post findings…
Kelly, For a North London location, Darlands nature reserve and Burtonhole Lane bridle path in Mill Hill has wild garlic.
coicidence or what, i read this recipe on a friends face book and promised myself id make it, this last weekend i did, but on looking at the recipe again, i noticed the warning of Botulism, the coincidence? well ive just finished reading a thriller where the main choice of weapon for the murders was, Botulism…… So as you can imagine i’m a little worried about using it, i made it on sunday and half is in olive oil in a jar in the fridge, the other is in olive oil but in small amounts in the freezer………….. So please anyone out there. i need reasurence!
As well as the wild garlic pesto already mentioned earlier, I made dried garlic powder by force drying leaves in a fan oven on the coolest setting. The dried leaves were then powdered easily with an electric whizzer to lovely green garlic powder, leaving the not-totally dry leaf ribs wrapped around the blade. I’ve stored the powder/flakes in a herb jar for use as a condiment. Also froze the leaf stems washed and chopped in to 1cm lengths for use in stir fries, or anything else as a garlic substitute.We’ve just head them added into broccoli and stilton soup for lunch…nice! The flowers are pretty in salad and I’ve tried suspending them in a bottle of olive oil. yet to see how that goes. I’ve eaten the seed heads preseved in salt and used to flavour garlic flatbread, you can also pickle them. I’m going to try these methods when the flowers are done this year.
iam truely gutted to find out you shouldnt really keep wild garlic this way for a long time. ive done this for 3 years now and my friend even still has some stored from last year that i gave her. ive got 5 jars in the fridge now that iam not sure what to do with. had it 2 weeks so might heat to 70 for 20mins and re-jar it, as mentioned above. just wondered peoples views to this?
Andi: Thanks for some great ideas that folk can use wild garlic for.
Tom: It seems the general consensus for preserving herbs in oil is to ONLY use dried herbs. Botulism appears only on fresh herbs preserved in oil. If using fresh herbs, then only keep them for about a week, and definitely refridgerated.
I did this with garlic mustard but had no problem refrigerating and using within a week!
I’ve been making and selling wild garlic pesto for a couple of years, so far no problems. I make large amounts and then freeze it, does anyone know if this will kill the botulism?
I was planning to make this and then freeze it afterwards into small portions, I wonder if this will work and not harbour botulism?
Ive just made garlic and nettle pesto with lemon juice and salt. Now I read the warnings. Can I clarify… You can use it fresh but not store it long term?
Molly: Yes it is fine to use the plant fresh, its only the long term storage that is a problem. So your pesto should keep in the fridge for about 2 weeks, although I would hope it would be wolfed down by hungry mouths well before then
Thanks Robin, I’ve just had pasta… With my delicious nettle and wild garlic pesto !! I’m off foraging tomorrow for a big bag full! I went to the local health food shop for organic pine nuts only to be told that last years harvest was rubbish and now they are scarce and … Expensive. So tomorrows batch will have cashew nuts instead!
This looks lovely – has anyone thought about adding a little pink salt (sodium nitrate) to it to help with preservation? It’s the stuff that gets added to cured meat to prevent botulism…
Masses of wild garlic along the banks of the Dollis Brook which runs through Finchley in N London
Off for my first ever forage now. Any hints on wha recipe to start with?
Off for my first ever forage now. Any hints on wha recipe to start with?
Hi all, we have just come back from Llangollen, there is a place a little walk or drive just half a mile or less outside the town of llan, called plas newed, there are mass growth of wild garlic right now in the gardens to the rear,,,,,the whole vally smells of the stuf, I’m going the blanch and freez mine, same as I do carrots, colly flower, brockley, onions ect,,,,one suggestion tho! I might just tie bunches up of wild garlic with string, and store it in shed, Victorian style,, important to keep it dry, also try wrapping bunches up in news paper, keep them bunches in shallow sand box, just an ideas folks.
Cheers , Robbo, from Liverpool
Regarding the ‘ALERT’ above botulism ….
lf you have preserved any by covering it in oil it will last for a good good while. However, the botulism alert is true though you will know if it infected as soon as you open the jar because it stinks – and l mean stinks – like rotting sewerage.
Wild garlig can also be dried like any herb. Apparently it is illegal to dig up the bulbs without the land owners permission thou this is a law mainly designed to protect the wild lands of Scotland s such as Bluebells etc. l shouldn’t think you’ll be going to jail for taking a few for a stew or a salad. lt is not really worth digging them up anyway as the best flavour is in the leaves and flowers, plus the bulbs are so small it just aint worth the effort. lf you want to cultivate some, they take around 3 years to come on so be patient. You can cultivate from the flower heads.
Freezing does not kill harmful bacteria, it puts it to sleep. Warmth wakes up harmful bacteria. Heat Kills bacteria. Some harmul bacteria, anthrax and others survive heat.
Good comment Chris
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