Food Foraging 2023

Christopher Topham-Smith

Christopher Topham-Smith

Location
UK
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Apologies if a thread is already in progress, but this appears to be the total harvest this season for my nearest source of Jack by the hedge (or garlic mustard) — tonight's starter with black pig chorizo and Parmesan.

It's been a strange spring in Cornwall — sorrel has done really well and alexanders continues its inexorable march along roadside verges, but wild garlic seems both shy and later than usual. Last year there were great clumps of Jack by the hedge in several places up and down the village, but this year no sign of them at all — I read that it's biennial, so perhaps it'll be back in 2024?
 
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Andy Sparrow said:
A big dog walk yesterday in the South Downs near Luggershall with a mass of wild garlic. All wilted, blitzed and packed now. Just a smidge with crab linguine and some Crozes Blanc Fayolle
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Have you been to Noah’s Ark, Andy? I think down that neck of the woods - a few years since I’ve made it but used to be a very decent pub indeed.
 
Yes we had lunch there Julian, really good and featured wild garlic in a number of dishes. We’ve eaten there a number of times over the past few years but that was the best. The wine list is basic stuff but nothing over £44 and non-gougey
 
Wild garlic seems slightly early here - but I might be mis-remembering. It just looks like I need to get my skates on if I want to freeze any.

Not checked for Jack by the Hedge yet. Will have a wander around the garden later.
 
Having acquired an unfeasible quantity of wild garlic this week we've been having it every which way but the absolute star of the show proves to be blanching a big pile momentarily in a large quantity of boiling water, draining it quickly but thoroughly, dressing with superheated peanut oil then oyster sauce diluted with a little Palo Cortado, ginger juice and white pepper. With Cantonese roasted Old Spot belly and Thai rice one of the more enjoyable of recent luncheons. A superlative green vegetable.
 
Eric Burch said:
Does the nettle add much, do you think, Christopher? I've never found it to be worth the cost of picking, nor to add much more than colour and a faint scent of vegetation and the drains. I am entirely ready to believe the fault is not in the nettles but in my preparation of them.
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Nettle tips were the only green ingredient I used, from whatever b*****d variant grows locally – despite wearing nitrile gloves, the tips of my right thumb and index finger are tingling merrily.

The resulting slurry smells surprisingly like basil pesto, but there's an appealing pepperiness and astringency to taste – I'm reminded of those childhood summer afternoons when my brother and I would joyfully set about dense thickets taller than we were, until our sinewy arms and hazel broadswords dripped emerald with nettle blood...

I'm not sure why the colour didn't hold, when other drafts (wild garlic, sorrel, spinach) all retained their vibrancy days later. It'll also be interesting to try it again after the weekend, because flavours in the wild garlic version really mellowed and came together.
 
We had another half ton or so for lunch, blanched, refreshed and finished in butter like spinach. If one has a lot there is no reason whatever not to eat it like this; though it does lose most of its garlic tinge it is more delicious than even the very finest spinach.
As with spinach there's obviously no need to blanch but the results are so much better and quicker it seems a shame not to.
 
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