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Currently making wild garlic pesto

April 25, 2016 By Jill Anderson 4 Comments

I love this time of year with so much fresh, green growth everywhere, there’s a chill in the air, but the days are longer and there’s a fair bit of sunshine around. I hope you had a good weekend, did you have any sunshine? I seem to start a lot of my posts talking about the weather, but I’m British and a gardener… what more can I say?

We spent most of Sunday afternoon foraging for wild garlic, it grows in damp, shady woodland areas, the patch we found is alongside a woodland path that has dappled light, it seems to love it there.

It’s a wonderful little plant, with dark green, strappy leaves and pretty, star-shaped clusters of flowers that show it’s part of the allium family.

Currently making wild garlic pesto-wild garlic

a carpet of wild garlic plants.

It’s a friendly sort of past-time, a few walkers stopped and chatted as we picked leaves, one lady had a small bag of allium flowers, but didn’t know about using the leaves as well, I shared our recipe with her and she’s going back this week to pick leaves.

The flowers can be gently pulled apart and sprinkled over salads, they look pretty and have a gentle flavour of garlic.

wild garlic flowers

wild garlic flowers

If this all seems a bit of a faff, I can tell you that it’s the most wonderful flavour, very vibrant, and unlike any pesto you’ve ever bought, with the added bonus of no additives.

Wild garlic and walnut pesto:

enough for 4

  • 50g shelled walnuts, you can use pine nuts, I use walnuts because they’re cheaper and they have a good, robust flavour
  • 100g of well-washed garlic leaves & stems, roughly chopped
  • 35g parmesan cheese, or any hard cheese that doesn’t melt easily
  • grated zest of half a lemon and a generous squeeze of juice
  • 100ml of olive oil
  • a little salt & freshly ground black pepper.

Put the nuts, wild garlic, cheese and lemon zest into a food processor and blitz, then gradually add the olive oil – you may not need all of it or a little more- with the motor running slowly until it becomes a soft puree.

wild garlic fl

Keep it in the fridge for a few days, or freeze it. We make about 5x this recipe and freeze it in bags of two portions and use it with pasta or to make risotto, it’s lovely to have a taste of spring freshness though the year.

I adapted the recipe from this one.

Jill

all photos: Jill Anderson

Related posts:

Chives, how to grow them & use them in the kitchen squash growing at the allotment, uchi kuri squash,What’s growing at the allotment in July. shallots for saleThings to do in the Vegetable Garden in March Flowers and cake for a special wedding.

Related posts:

Chives, how to grow them & use them in the kitchen squash growing at the allotment, uchi kuri squash,What’s growing at the allotment in July. shallots for saleThings to do in the Vegetable Garden in March Flowers and cake for a special wedding.
Filed Under: Blog, Growing Food, Plants, Recipes Tagged With: edible flowers, wild garlic, wild garlic pesto

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Comments

  1. rusty duck says

    April 25, 2016 at 6:54 pm

    Sounds delicious. There is no wild garlic in our woodland and I’m wondering how easy it would be to establish it?

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      April 26, 2016 at 12:18 pm

      It loves damp soil, woodlands with light shade, so if you have these conditions I’d give it a go. It would be great to have your own supply!

      Reply
  2. Lottie says

    May 24, 2016 at 2:12 pm

    I’ve made this and I can confirm it is delicious!! It was so good I had to put the recipe up on my own blog!

    Reply
    • Jill Anderson says

      August 11, 2016 at 10:02 am

      Thanks so much Lottie!

      Reply

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Hello, I’m Jill Anderson.
This is where you’ll find good, solid information about gardening, growing fruit & vegetables and how to keep it all looking good.
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The healing, calming power of nature in one photo. The healing, calming power of nature in one photo.
These wonderful autumn colours won’t be around for much longer. But that’s ok, because now is what matters, & their fleeting beauty makes them even more precious.
It’s easy to see how being among trees & nature is so beneficial for our health & wellbeing. 
Have a great Sunday.
Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it lo Savouring all the autumn colour, & doesn’t it look spectacular with this bold front door.
Today has been hard work, after a lovely time last week in Norfolk. The north coast there is spectacular. Realising these last few months, that there are so many beautiful places here. 
Have a nice evening.
Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Vis Charming glasshouse at Houghton Hall, Norfolk. Visiting to see the Anish Kapoor sculptures, which are amazing, but unprepared for the beauty of the grounds & garden. 
Such a treat, worth coming to Norfolk for this alone!
Hope you’re keeping well, & managing to smile some of the time. x
P.S. more of Houghton Hall & Anish Kapoor on my stories
We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberrie We stopped off on the way home to pick blackberries, after coffee & cake, sitting in the churchyard - the cafe was full, & the churchyard is a quiet, peaceful spot..... as you’d expect.
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One little advantage of lockdown is walking so much more, rather than using the car. Though it shouldn’t have taken something as momentous as this, for me to change bad habits 🙁
Hope you’re weekend is going well.
My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from My hazel arch, a bit lopsided 🙄 using wood from a random clump of hazel on the garden. Now looking much better covered in winter squash plants, so you can’t see just how ramshackle it is. I like to think it has a certain home-spun charm .

Great for small space gardening, imagine how much room you need to grow these without vertical supports.

I’ve got 2 Uchiki kuri, lovely nutty flavour.
1 Turks turban, for its flamboyant shape & colours, though it also tastes good.
One unknown, grown by my grandsons in their homeschooled science lesson.
Close-ups of the squash over on my stories.
Stay cool my friends x
I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium reg I wanted to show you this lovely lily ( Lilium regale) which is flowering right outside our bedroom window. 
It gets sun for about 4 hours only, you can order the bulbs now for planting in September. It’ll reappear every year & waft delicious scent around your garden, or through your windows.
Have a very happy Monday x
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A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-s A bit of rain, nice long days (it’s almost mid-summer!) & it’s, mostly, all growing nicely.

Spinach, courgettes & garlic in shot here. 
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday x
Hope is a decision I’ve thought long & hard abou Hope is a decision
I’ve thought long & hard about how to view the tumult in the world we’re living in now. 
The only thing that works for me, is to choose hope.

It’s a tall order, but avoiding mainstream news & speculation helps avoid the anxiety, that’s often waiting in the wings.

One day soon there’ll be grandchildren clambering over this again.
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