Loads of it - more or less everywhere in the woods. I first noticed a massed sprouting of spade-shaped leaves in early March. As the leaves grew thicker, I also occasionally noticed a faint garlicky smell in the air. I didn't make the connection between the leaves and the smell for several weeks - I was thinking it looked rather like a carpet of lily-of-the-valley.
Then (while miles away on travels) I accidentaly read a newspaper article about seasonal wild garlic recipies - and then it suddenly struck me: we got carpets of the stuff just down the lane!
The aroma is subtly yet unmistakably one of garlic, in a fresh, delicate kind of way. Now we got to try it out in lots of ways, before the brief season is over with flowering. If you have any ideas or tried & tested favourites let me know!
Here's the best impromtu recipe so far:
SCRAMBLED EGGS 'WILD END' (for 2)
4 eggs (from this morning)
a little milk
handful of freshly picked wild garlic, finely sliced
half a tin (100g) of laverbread (Welsh speciality of cooked, tinned seaweed)
sea salt & freshly ground pepper
toasted rye bread to serve
>> Mix eggs, milk & laverbread, salt & pepper, cook as scrambled eggs on gentle heat, add the wild garlic when just about cooked. Serve with toasted rye bread (or other dark, rustic bread).
Yum!
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