It is coming to that time of year that in Europe and Certain areas of the East Coast of the USA and Canada that when out walking in forest/mountain areas you will suddenly get a lovely whiff of Garlic. Now what you are smelling is Ramsons (Europe) or Ramps (USA/Canada).
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| Flowered Wild Garlic in Lough Key Boyle County Roscommon Eire |
I do not have enough words to explain how much I LOVE this stuff. I first discovered this wonderful wild plant while at a snowboarding festival in the Alps in Austria. Enjoying a lovely meal with my than boyfriend (now husband) and one of my bestest friends Sabrina this was all over the menu. She had to explain to use what it was and we instantly fell in love with the stuff. We even bought some in a market and brought it home in our suitcases to cook with. I made a very tasty Pesto out of it that my mammy throughly enjoyed using to cook pretty much everything with. She put it in soups in curry you name it she had it in there calling it her secret ingredient. It only gave her away when I could smell it wafting around the house before dinner time.
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| Wild Garlic at the Meehambee Dolmen near Drum County Roscommon Eire |
Ramsons is called a million different things depending on where you are from. Simply put it is Wild Garlic. Some will call it wild onion and that makes sense too as it has a slight chive smell while you are chopping it up. Also referred to as Bears Garlic in Austria and Germany that was the first name he learnt for it.
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| Wild Garlic on the hills by Boyne Castle, Portsoy Scotland |
In Europe and the specific one I am talking about it's scientific name is Allium ursinum. It is a long wide leafy plant that flowers white petals at particular times of the season, it generally has a strong smell of garlic in its location and grows in large clusters. It is however a little bit like a weed and once it takes hold of an area it will spread rapidly. Every website around with tell you that it is at its best flavor and this time or that. I don't care it tastes good anytime and I will stick by that.
I have found that wild garlic can be found generally in wooded areas near a stream where it is quiet covered yet damp. If every you find yourself on a wild garlic hunt and you see a plant but you aren't 100% sure if it is the one. break the leaf and have a good sniff. You can always give it a taste too.
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| Ramp Farm, Richwood, West Virginia USA |
There are a million things you can make with Wild Garlic in the Kitchen. I just tonight made "Bears Garlic Dumplings" that Sabrina's mammy made for us while we where visiting with them. They are ridiculously tasty! However, I have to admit that we are now staying the Pacific North West we cannot get wild garlic therefore I cheated and made these with a lot of regular garlic and some chives, it worked perfectly well. As I said before I have also made "Wild Garlic Pesto". this is a great idea as wild garlic is only in season for so long and you cannot get it in the supermarket in Ireland or Scotland there for the pesto will prolong the life of your wild garlic and you can continue to cook with it regardless.
We have also made wild garlic bread and butter. All of which is seriously tasty.
Recipes:
Bears Garlic Dumplings
Ingredients:
- 200g dry bread cubes
- 50g bears garlic (or if you have no way to get this use 25g regular garlic cloves plus 25 grams chives)
- 2 eggs
- 50g cheese of your choice
- 50g butter
- 250g milk
- dash of salt
- dash of pepper
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1/2 tsp mustard
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| The Prep |
Method
- Chop the bears garlic (or crush the garlic cloves and chop the chives) and mix with the bread cubes in a large bowl.
- Warm up the milk and melt the butter together either in the microwave or over the stove and combine with the breadcrumb mix.
- Whip your eggs together with the cheese and mix that into the wet mixture combine until all together.
- Add your salt, pepper and mustard and give it a mix.
- Shape the Dumplings into 6 large balls and set aside.
- Bring a large pan of water seasoned with salt to a good simmer, add the dumplings carefully and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. Do not bring to the boil.
- Serve these up to 2/3 people. You can add a little extra butter over the top of the dumplings if you like.
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| Ready for Dinner |
Here is a link to a Wild Garlic Pesto that I made before:
Always keep in mind. When you decide to go for some Bears Garlic...... You are gonna have some stinky breath afterwards!
I hope you find a patch to pick yourself as that is part of the fun!
Enjoy Tara x
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On the Hunt for Wild Garlic with Lisa and Greg in County Meath
We found it in LoughCrew Garden |
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