I’m surprised you say they’re not as strong as bulb garlic… maybe I was lucky (or unlucky) but the ones I had were mighty powerful and very peppery and hot!

Helen: what on earth made you think it might work against black spot? Why not try it against cloudy days?? It’s just as likely!
ANDY (2008) did you get your bulbs? Later in the year the damn bulblets are dropping everywhere, if you still need some put a post and we’ll organise to send you a hand full. Should be a garden full within a year or two.
Overall thanks for all the posts. Fascinating, what humans get into!!!

Try the leaves in a sandwich with a good quality strong chedder cheese. also use them to wrap a joint of beef for slow roasting the beef stays nice and pink and moist.

Lesley Aylward – I’m interested to know if the midges steer clear of the wild garlic patches where you live. We have wild garlic everywhere around us (a shady, wooded area in the North Downs in Kent)and I have noticed that it keeps the saw flies(?) away from the solomon’s seal and have also found that by boiling a couple of bulbs (I suppose a few leaves would do just as well) in a saucepan of water for 5 mins, then cooling, straining and spraying it at ground level and above, around the stems of my roses, it seems to greatly reduce black spot. I’m going to try spraying the solution over our beetroot seedlings next year to see whether it deters the slugs!

Great news about the midge repellent properties. Living in the Clyde valley we have wild garlic and midges in abundance! Try wild garlic cheese using natural strained yogurt, mixed with sea salt and finely chopped leaves. Good on ciabatta with roasted tomatoes. Also great in little cheese pasties made with puff pastry, feta and pureed wild garlic/olive oil paste.Another use for me is to make a middle eastern salad with bulgur wheat ( soaked ), finely chopped wild garlic,tomatoes,cucmber, parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper.
The pasties also work well with sauteed nettle and feta !

i have a plentiful supply in my garden (in fact it’s getting overrun!) if anyone wants any bulbs i would be able to post some) they’re easy enough to cultivate – just plant them in the garden and watch them take over – but they are great in soups and salads

[…] have burst into flower and the Cow Parsley has grown tall on the verges. Here and there, patches of  Wild Garlic – also known as Ransomes – can be seen contributing to the colour […]

i’ve just found this site for ransom soup as i have a plentiful supply in my garden and am going to make the most of it.
What an interesting site with so many peple swapping ideas etc.
andy – don’t but any I can supply you with an introductory amount!

Try Wild Garlic crisps…. Stretch cling film over a plate, wipe a leave with rapeseed oil on both sides, smooth out leave onto stretched cling filim, stretch more cling film over the top! microwave on high for 2 minutes, lovely crispy garlic leaf crisp. Works with basil, tarragon also….

Well- I’m going to try wild garlic leaves and something – haven’t decided yet – muffins … will let you know how it goes.

I have quite a patch of wild garlic growing in my garden in the Highlands of Scotland. I’ve only just started to use it, last year and now this spring. Try layering some leaves in Dauphinoise potatoes, or wrapping the leaves around carrot sticks and tying with chives then decorated with the blooms! Looks superb on the plate. Just need more time to harvest and store it!!

Have got wild garlic growing in frong garden of house, End terrace and garden about 6feet square, the question I have is can the leaves be frozen and if so how best to store them

I am lucky and very happy to live on the isle of. Wight there is a village near me called shorewell and every road in and out of village has ransoms growing have just picked loads now going for a feast

I have a huge amount of ramson in my garden its spreads all over but it makes the whole garden smell amazing, I am going to use all parts of it to cook with as I hadn’t seen any usful recipes before now. So potato, garlic and leek soup and some garlic foccacia bread here I come!

I have just discovered a large patch of Wild garlic in a wooded area near my home. I took a few leaves home to check if they the correct thing. I am delighted to say that they are the real deal and delicious. I will be going back tomorrow and picking a substantial amount to use in the various recipes I have found on here.

Medicinally, wild garlic is an excellent blood tonic, and whole-system cleaner. It also stops you being bitten by midgeys and mozzies, as it makes your blood more bitter, and the biters like sweet-blood.

It is not as universally available as sometimes thought – in East Kent, with mostly chalk soils, it is rarer than the ever-pervasive and seemingly useless Dogs Mercury. But there are patches of the right woodlands, where it out-competes every other flora, and makes for delicious pickings.

I make a pesto, with cashews, olive oil, parmesan, salt pepper, and lots of galric leaves and bulbs, all blended together. A ratio of 2 parts garlic to 1 part everything else. It is very very good. A handful of chickweed also makes the taste even better – another much under-valued weed, with added benefit of skin cleansing effects.

Also – a tincture, of garlic leaves in 40% alcohol, makes a strong medicinal tonic. Mix it with Elderberry tincture, for a winter cold-relief.

But best of all is raw raw raw…the taste and scent are with you all day, so be ready for fools in foul perfumes making clever-clog comments.
So not only does the wild garlic keep you healthy, it keeps you safe from numptys.
happy garlicking, all.

I made a lovely soup today. Ramsons, good vegetable stock (can use free range chicken stock), potato, 1 stick of celery and lettuce. I added (Elmlea) single cream after cooking had finished and seasoned carefully. Delish!!!!

With amazing suddenness it’s Spring! During the Winter I’d forgotten the delights of foraging. Now, surrounded by young garlic leaves, I can’t decide which recipe to go for first. And nearby there are the nettles, young, fresh greens – so appealing at this time of year!. And very soon there will be sorrel. Just as well these are rather time-consuming to pick or I’d be tempted to eat more than is good for me! . And all of them growing in my garden – as weeds! What richness!

By the way it’s ramson not ransom. I get it wrong half the time when speaking it. Easier to say wild garlic – but as I see “ramson” isn’t recognised by my computer’s American spelling check perhaps I’ll persist with it!

i think that the clove bit of the wild garlic is the best been made into a puree and mixed with the chopped leaves and stuffed in woodcock with a nice rabbit meat stock to go with it. extreemly delicious

The very best bit of the wild garlic plant is the flower pods, just before they pop. Sautee them in a half butter, half olive oil until they begin to turn a little brown at the edges. Delicious!

I use the leaves when I am roasting chicken, lamb, etc. I also add them to casseroles.
I live in woodland so there is masses.

Hi Catherine,
Thanks for that. I didn’t know that Ransoms had so much,probably be easier to get them there.Problem is that’s another web site where I’m now going to spend hours!.
Andy

Hi Andy – I’m sure somebody might give you some (some people look on them as a bit of a pest), but failing that http://www.wildflowershop.co.uk/ have ransoms in their bulbs section.

Hi,
I’ve just bought a piece of woodland and would like to introduce some wild garlic to it. Would anybody be able to supply me with some, whenever it’s the best time to plant it.

Yes the flowers are edible and are good in salads. I would only use the newest leaves otherwise they can be a little tough.