Wild garlic, or ramsons, is a woodland plant whose broad leaves carry a mild garlic flavour in spring. It is foraged for pesto, soups and butter, but has several poisonous lookalikes.
What it is¶
Wild garlic, also called ramsons, bear's garlic or buckrams, is a bulbous perennial of damp, shady broadleaved woodland. From late winter, it pushes up broad, soft, lance-shaped leaves that can carpet the woodland floor, followed in April and May by globes of starry white flowers. The whole plant smells of garlic, and on a warm spring day the scent of a wood full of it is unmistakable.
In Britain it is one of the most popular foraged foods, and its short season, roughly February to May, makes it a welcome spring event in restaurants. The leaves are milder and sweeter than bulb garlic, closer to chives with a garlicky finish.
North American ramps (Allium tricoccum) are a related but different species, eaten in the same way.
Origins and history¶
Wild garlic has been gathered for food since prehistoric times across much of its native range. The species name ursinum comes from the belief that bears were fond of it, after emerging from hibernation, and many European names repeat the idea: Bärlauch in German, ail des ours in French.
In Britain it is associated with ancient woodland, where it is one of the indicator species conservationists use to identify old woods. It was eaten in medieval Britain and later as a rural spring green, but it largely dropped out of mainstream cooking until the foraging revival of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Wild garlic is also used to wrap cheese; a variety of the Cornish cheese Yarg is wrapped in wild garlic leaves rather than its traditional nettles.
Flavour and aroma¶
The leaves taste fresh, green and sweet, with a clear but gentle garlic flavour that fades quickly with cooking. They are less pungent than garlic cloves, with no harsh bite, and lose most of their flavour if cooked for more than a minute or two.
The flowers and buds are sharper and more pungent; the seeds, when green, are strong and peppery.
In the kitchen¶
Treat wild garlic leaves like a garlicky basil or spinach: use them raw, or add them at the end of cooking.
- Pesto. Blend 100 g wild garlic leaves with 50 g toasted hazelnuts, pine nuts or walnuts, 50 g grated hard cheese, the juice of half a lemon and about 150 ml olive or rapeseed oil. Season. It keeps for a week under a layer of oil in the fridge, and it freezes well. See pesto.
- Butter. Mix finely chopped leaves into softened butter with salt and lemon zest for garlic bread, steak or fish.
- Soups and risotto. Stir a handful of shredded leaves into potato soup, risotto or pasta in the last minute of cooking.
- Eggs. Shred into omelettes and scrambled eggs, or wilt into a frittata.
- Flowers. Scatter over salads and savoury dishes; they are sharper than the leaves.
- Capers. Salt or pickle green seed pods or flower buds in vinegar to make wild garlic "capers".
💡 Cut, don't pull
Pick single leaves with scissors or a knife, taking only a few from each clump. Pulling uproots the bulbs and damages the patch.
Buying and storing¶
Wild garlic is sold at farmers' markets and some greengrocers in spring. The leaves wilt quickly: wrap unwashed in damp paper and store in a bag in the fridge for up to five days.
It does not dry well. Blanch and freeze, or better, make pesto or butter and freeze it. See freezing herbs.
Substitutes¶
Chives with a little crushed garlic is the closest approximation. Young spinach leaves with garlic work in soups and pesto. The spring leaves of three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum), an invasive plant in southern Britain, can be used the same way.
Pairs well with¶
Potatoes, eggs, butter and cream, soft cheese, hazelnuts and walnuts, lemon, pasta and risotto, asparagus, mushrooms, chicken, lamb and white fish, chives, parsley and sorrel.
Growing your own¶
Wild garlic can be grown in a shady, moist corner of the garden, where it will spread steadily.
- Starting. Sow seed outdoors in autumn: it needs a period of cold to germinate, and germination can take a year or more. Bulbs or pot-grown plants, bought in autumn or spring, establish faster. Never dig bulbs from the wild.
- Position. Dappled or deep shade in moist, humus-rich soil, like a deciduous woodland floor. It dislikes hot, dry, sunny spots.
- Spread. It spreads by bulb offsets and seed. Contain it, or give it a space where it can colonise.
- Harvesting. Pick leaves from the second spring onwards, taking only a few from each plant.
See foraging wild herbs.
Health and safety¶
Wild garlic has several poisonous lookalikes, some of which grow in the same habitats and appear at the same time. Every year there are cases of poisoning in Europe from people mistaking them for wild garlic. See poisonous lookalikes.
| Plant | Toxic compound | Key difference |
|---|---|---|
| Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) | Cardiac glycosides; can be fatal | Leaves grow in pairs from a single stem; no garlic smell |
| Lords-and-ladies (Arum maculatum) | Calcium oxalate crystals; painful irritation and swelling | Arrow-shaped leaves with a network of veins, often dark-spotted |
| Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) | Colchicine; can be fatal | Leaves appear in spring from a bulb, no smell; flowers in autumn |
| Daffodils, bluebells, snowdrops | Various alkaloids | No garlic smell |
- Check the smell of every leaf. Wild garlic leaves smell strongly of garlic when crushed. But the smell stays on your fingers, so one garlic leaf can make the next, poisonous one seem to smell of garlic too. Crush each leaf individually, and wash your hands between checks.
- Wild garlic leaves each grow on their own stalk directly from the ground.
- If in doubt, do not eat it.
The law in the UK. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is illegal to uproot any wild plant without the landowner's permission. Picking leaves for personal use is generally permitted, but not on nature reserves or protected sites where byelaws prohibit it.