It’s time for a forage! The garlic, otherwise known as ransoms or buckrams, is abundant, verdant, white-flowered sparkly, and pungent in the best possible way. If you’ve never gathered these native, delicious leaves (or flowers) before, I’d heartily recommend you give it a go. It’s the easiest thing to forage (no stings or barbs) and an incredibly versatile culinary herb.

First, the health benefits. Yes, like all things green and leafy, wild garlic contains the following:

Vitamins A and C, iron, phosphorus, copper, sodium and calcium…phew!

Yep, you get a lot of healthy bang for your buck. Long observed as having antibacterial properties that could even help zap a few unfriendly gut microbes, it may also help lower blood pressure, and thus heart disease and stroke! What’s not to love about that?

Plus, there is real health benefit in getting out and gathering the stuff. After all, forest bathing IS a thing. You don’t need to do a lot of persuading to get me out in nature – I love the stuff! And I strongly suspect so does more or less the entire human race, so we have that in common.

Here’s some recipe suggestions for your garlic:

Wild garlic pesto – All you need is to food process the leaves with some extra virgin olive oil and toasted seeds of your choice e.g. pine nuts or my personal favourite, pumpkin, for extra antiparasitic and iron oomph. It’s easy, keeps for a week or more in the fridge, and is a fine accompaniment to pasta, quinoa, or indeed any grain for a salad.

Wild garlic and cheese scones – Finely chopped leaves with the usual cheese scone recipe make these a particularly savoury treat.

Olive oil infusion – Put chopped leaves in a jar and top up with olive oil, put in cool, dark place and leave to infuse for a couple of weeks, giving it a shake every day or so, then use within 3 weeks.

Add to salads – The leaves pack a punch but alternatively, the more subtle tasting flowers can also be added for an extra garlicky dimension!

Honestly, any of the ways you would normally use garlic are ways you can use the wild stuff. Soups, stews, stir fries…you name it. You can make dips with sour cream, or add to an omelette or scrambled eggs. If you have any more good ideas of how to garlic-up a culinary favourite, I’d love to hear about it, so just pop into the comments below.

In the meantime, some lucky people have taken up my early-bird springtime offer of a whacking 40% off the cost of a health-optimising online consultation package but there’s still a couple of spaces left. The offer runs until June 1^st but on a first-come-first-served basis. If you want to utilise the renewing energy of the spring to get your health on track for a vibrant, vivacious summer, I can help. Message me on jop.naturalnutrition@gmail.com to find out more!