At this time of year there is plenty of wild garlic around.  Not only is this growing for free all over the country, but it’s incredibly good for you also. Here’s why:

• Its antibacterial
• An natural antibiotic
• It’s an antiseptic
• Great for the heart, being even better at reducing blood pressure than normal garlic
• Reduces arteriosclerosis and elevated cholesterol levels
• Reduces the risk of blood clots

I went foraging for wild garlic the other day and I made some fermented probiotic pesto.  Here is the recipe. Ingredients:

• 700/1kg of wild garlic leaves
• 120 grams of pine nuts or chopped almonds
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 1/4 cup of filtered water
• 50/100 grams of basil leaves
• salt and pepper

Directions: 

• Blend all the ingredients (accept the water) in a blender, (you can change the ratio of ingredients to your personal taste)
• Add mixture to a a sterilised jar and top up with the water so it comes just above the level of the mixture
• Place a small plate or weight of some sort over the top of the mixture so that it is all submerged
• Pop the lid on and put in a cupboard for anywhere between 10 days and 2 months

Notes:

1. You can ferment the wild garlic by itself (as per the above directions), so that you have a store of probiotic garlic to last you through the winter.

2. You can add olive oil to the jar rather than brine/salted water and this will make a pesto closer to the shop bought stuff and one that you could use almost straight away.

3. Don’t pull up the wild garlic bulbs – the leaves (and flowers) are the best bit of wild garlic and if you leave the bulbs even more wild garlic will be there next year.

Here’s some other garlic fermenting links you might be interested in:

Eat Weeds, Lactofermented Wild Garlic, click here.

Cultures for Health, How to Ferment Garlic Scraps, click here.

Galloway Wild Foods, How to Ferment Wild Greens, click here.

Nourished Kitchen, Brine-pickled Lactofermented garlic scraps, click here.