Well, have you had enough of all the wild garlic pictures on Instagram? No? Very good! Because neither have I! And that’s why I was as happy as a child when I also discovered wild garlic meadows in our forest. And not just one, but five or six! A dream! Before you now but also the search-and-collect fever grips, read briefly the tips on how to recognize wild garlic, so you do not accidentally collect a wrong plant!

How to recognize wild garlic

The simplest answer: by smell! When you pluck or cut a wild garlic leaf, it smells intensely of garlic. Really intense! You can’t misinterpret that at all 😉

Otherwise, the leaf shape, color and other appearance are identifying features. Wild garlic has a deep green color (especially now in the sparsely leafy forest you can usually recognize wild garlic meadows from afar). The leaves are oval and pointed. And they are dull. This is how you can distinguish them from the poisonous lily of the valley, whose leaves are shiny!

By the way: You can find wild garlic mainly in shady deciduous forests! If you have such a forest nearby, it’s worth taking a walk with the intention to look for wild garlic 😉

And one more info: From about mid-May, wild garlic starts to bloom and the leaves lose a lot of their aroma. So the best time to collect is now!

Make your own wild garlic pesto and butter

Back with your haul and feel like using it right away? Then here come two quick recipe ideas that you can easily implement!

Wild garlic pesto

For this, in addition to wild garlic, you’ll need almonds, olive oil, a little salt, cold water and some oat cream, depending on your taste. Oh, and a powerful blender is helpful too!

Put all the ingredients in a tall container and puree everything until it has a slightly creamy, pesto-like consistency. Depending on how intense you want the wild garlic flavor, just add a little more of the other ingredients. If your pesto is still too spicy for you, a dollop of oat cream will help.

I boiled the whole thing briefly, then canned it in jars. This way you also kill any germs you might have, like fox tapeworm.

If you want to eat your pesto fresh or use the wild garlic in wild garlic butter, be sure to wash it extra thoroughly with hot water.

Wild garlic butter

For the wild garlic butter, I chopped a handful of wild garlic into small pieces and added it to the soft butter with a little salt, mixed it properly and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Of course, it can also directly on the table, but the taste will be more intense if you let it stand a bit 😉

For even more inspiration for flowers and herbs on the plate, check out here.