Day 20: Wild garlic in plain chocolate

Wild garlic (Alium ursinum) 



Wild gralic is one of the first fresh flavours to forage in the early spring; it greens up still-dormant woodland with its new and lush aromatic leaves. The scent builds up and intensifies over the weeks as the plants grow and then blossom with fabulous white pompom flowers held aloft over the thick carpets of vibrant green. 

The Latin name ursinum means bear - and I imagine a northern hemisphere bear waking from hibernation, hungry and a little listless, and yearning for something to eat and just glorying in drifts of juicy, fresh, and vibrant wild garlic.  I feel much the same when I first see it's tender shoots. 

After what seemed an endless winter one year, I was so energised by the sight and smell of this new growth that I had a go at making a ganache with the leaves, little expecting the results to be as extraordinary as they were; it sounds terrible - but is honestly, fantastic - a real adventure for your taste buds!  Possibly best enjoyed before a meal rather than after, an amuse bouche perhaps?  and one customer told me that she had popped a truffle each onto freshly grilled lamb chops to delicious effect.


Much has been written about wild garlic by cooks and foragers.  It is very easy to pick and to use - chopped in salads (the flowers are a lovely addition to salads), flavour soups and stews, pestos and hummus, quiches, omelettes.  Details about identification and recipes can be found on the very wonderful Galloway Wildfoods website.  He also gives really clear instructions for lacto-fermenting garlic, and it is well worth having a go.  It is a great way of preserving the leaves - really intensifying their flavour.  You can use them as relish, or to add layers of flavour to quiches and pizzas.  We also dry the drained fermented leaves, and this ground up makes a great seasoning - and ground into chocolate, adds amazing umami flavour to the right chocolate.  The right chocolate this time, has been  NearyNogs Ecuador 70% plain chocolate

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