WILD HERBS RECIPE #3 - Vegan Wild Garlic Pesto
Now it's harvest time for wild garlic!
Wild garlic is known for its many "anti" qualities, including anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antimicrobial, antibiotic, antibacterial, and antioxidant.
Identification features and confusion
Wild garlic is often confused with the lily of the valley. The most important distinguishing feature of wild garlic is the intense smell of garlic. You can smell it immediately if you rub a leaf between your fingers. But for a correct determination you have to look at the leaves carefully.
Wild garlic has broad oval leaves with one leaf stem each. The matt undersides of the leaves and the parallel-nerved leaves are typical. With lily of the valley, the underside of its leaves are shiny. In addition, the lily of the valley forms two large leaves that sit on the same stem and embrace it. Another difference is the roots. While the wild garlic forms an onion, rhizome-like, horizontal roots grow in the lily of the valley.
Location: wild garlic likes to grow in shady and nutrient-rich places (e.g. deciduous and riparian forests).
Harvest time: early March to late May
Recipe for vegan wild garlic pesto:
- 100 g wild garlic, as an alternative 75 g wild garlic + 25 g arugula
- 100 ml vegetable oil (cold-pressed olive oil or, if it should be milder, 1 part olive oil can be replaced with sunflower oil)
- 50 g lightly roasted, still warm almonds
- 1/2 Teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 freshly ground black pepper
First you cut the wild garlic into small pieces and put it together with the vegetable oil in a tall container. Everything is now shredded with a stick mix. Then add the still warm almonds and mix the pesto again until the almonds are crushed. Finally, season with salt and pepper.
*Products seen in the pictures: CRONO N5 LEATHER brown, COELO enamel mug, MONYI organic cotton mesh bag
Are you further more interested in edible plants and the dangerous doppelgangers? I can recommend an interesting article seen on Offgrid.