by Some people have dug up the seasons with their traditional names. For others it is about the taste of the quarter. Q1 is a synonym for forced rhubarb, while Q2 (sometimes known as “spring”) can only mean one thing: it is a wild garlic season.
The pink, raised rhubarb polenta cake on their Instagram -feed soft green, green pestos and lamb that are rubbed with a wild garlic marinade. You will want to be involved.
Wild garlic is the joy of a forager; It grows easily and thrives in damp shady forests, and there are some places in London where it can be selected. If you live in the city, you can grow here.
How to discover wild garlic
Wild garlic has long, lace, lance -related leaves. They twisted one between your fingers and he should spend a strong smell of knoos – the best way to confirm that it is a wild garlic. In late spring it produces star -shaped white flowers in global clusters over the leaves. During the search for food, be careful with Lookalics like Lily of the Valley, which is poisonous and the garlic scent is missing.
How to choose it
Food always responsible by selecting a few leaves per plant without uproing the light bulbs, and be absolutely safe to your identification before consuming something.
With scissors you can cut only a few leaves from each plant without damaging the light bulb or pulling up the entire plant. This helps ensure that the plant can grow back and bloom and support the local ecosystem.
Just take as much as you need and do not choose from areas that look over. Only garlic from stains that have been withdrawn from the paths to avoid bits that may have been absorbed by people or peed by dogs.
How to cook with it
Make sure you wash your wild garlic thoroughly before you cook with it, and look at it in boiling water so that it is safe to eat.
Is the feed search legal?
Food searches are generally permitted on most non -private lands, but they may need permission in certain locations. You cannot search in the eight royal parks in London like Richmond Park and Hyde Park.
Where can you find wild garlic in London
north
You can find wild garlic both on the Highgate Cemetery and in Highgate. On the way to the northeast you will find it along the 4 -kilometer parking land Walk, a disused railway line between the Finsbury Park and Alexandra Palace. It also grows in the Abney Park in Stoke Newington.
East
Wild -Knoblauch grows in the Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, but if you want to search there, you have to apply for permission by sending the friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park via E -Mail. ((FOCHCP.ORG/FORAGING) They only allow food search for personal use.
Alternatively, go to Hackney Marshes or the forest area of Springfield Park.
For a guaranteed, rich harvest, jump onto the central line and go to the last stop. Carpets made of wild garlic grow in the Epping forest, which is also a nice place for a weekend walk.
south
Drive to the Crystal Palace Park, in the forest area of Crystal Palace Park Road or in the forested areas on Streatham Common, Dulwich Park and Wimbledon Common.
West
Layer West -Londoner, it’s a bit of a dry spot for wild garlic. There are some that are supposed to grow in Holland Park, but it is against the park’s byelaws to search there. You may have to commute.
Alternatively, wild garlic from places such as Ocado, Riverford Organic and Abel & Cole can be bought.
