Pickled Wild Garlic, Ransom and Chive Buds

Wild Garlic. Foraging & Cooking Food for Free

Have you, like us, been enjoying the tender young leaves of the wild garlic, Allium Ursinum? We shared information on recognising and how to forage responsibly for this pungent plant, plus some of our favourite recipes for using these delicious leaves in a previous post back in March: Wild Garlic, foraging and cooking.

Now April is upon us, and the wild garlic is sending up its buds, soon to burst into beautiful white flowers. There is a window in early Spring when the buds can be harvested to make a deliciously simple pickle. I noticed too that the chives that are growing in a bucket in the greenhouse are also showing signs of buds. Both ransoms, aka wild garlic, and chive buds are delicious pickled. You might also like to try other buds, such as sage? Pep up your salads and add them to sauces for an extra layer of flavour. It’s only a ten-minute job, so why not give it a go?

Pickled Wild Garlic Buds

Ingredients:

Handful wild garlic or chive buds

50g cider vinegar

50g sugar

50g water

Pinch pink peppercorns

Pinch salt

Method:

Begin by making the pickling liquid.

Put vinegar, sugar and water in a pan and heat until sugar is dissolved. Leave to cool.

Once cooled, place wild garlic or chive buds in a sterilised jar and pour over pickling liquid. Place in fridge & leave to pickle for three days before using.

Lasts for up to six months in the fridge.

Chive Blossom Vinegar

See also the post on making floral vinegars for when the flowers burst open!

We do hope you enjoy foraging for or picking wild garlic, but please remember to forage responsibly, leaving plenty for others and for wildlife.

If you have a shady spot in your garden, you might like to consider growing your own wild garlic. We have! A quick google and I see it can be bought in the green or by seed. Here’s one such site, from garden supply direct.

Anyone close to us, do pop over and I’ll give you a clump of ours!

Wild Garlic. Foraging & Cooking Food for Free

As ever, we’d love you to share your thoughts, either by leaving a comment here or on our social media pages, where this article will be shared.

You can find the Bridge Cottage Way on Facebook Twitter and Instagram.

You might enjoy some of the writing and ideas in other sections of this website, as we look towards leading more sustainable lives by growing our own food and creating dishes in line with seasonal eating, or head to our handy ‘Month by Month’ guides to find out what we have been doing here at Bridge Cottage as the months go by:

Many thanks for reading.

With Facebook and Instagram algorithms being fickle friends at times, be sure to get all new posts from The Bridge Cottage Way by signing up for the mailing list here. This will go our four times a year, with the seasons in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. We, of course, will not share your details with third parties, and you have the right to unsubscribe at any time.

Tim & Sue in the Bridge Cottage Way garden