A Mayo guide to foraging for wild food
COUNTRYFILE
IT’S foraging time again!
While we would certainly have perished had we been completely reliant on food found in the wild through the winter, we can now begin to enjoy nature’s plenty once more.
Where can we begin? Well, how about a few leaves of wild garlic to get us going?
This delicious edible plant has become increasingly popular in recent years. And the best thing of all?
There is so much of it about that even if we all went and helped ourselves, there’d still be enough to spare.
The proper English name is ramsons. The Latin name is Allium ursinum, Allium being the genus, which includes the onion family as well as proper garlic, while the suffix ursinum comes from the fondness that European brown bears show for the shallow-rooted, nutrient-rich bulbs when those animals first emerge from hibernation.
But forget the bulbs, for it is the leaves which have that delicious garlic flavour, and then the white, starry flowers that come out in May that go so well in a spring salad.
Many who try ramsons for the first time complain about the lack of flavour. It could be they pick the leaves more than a few hours before eating them, or that they add the same to soups and stews too early in the cooking process.
To be enjoyed at their best, the leaves should be eaten within an hour of being picked, for they quickly lose their garlic taste.
For the same reason, chopped leaves should be added to a dish immediately before it is to be served. Then they are rich and pungent, with a depth of flavour hard to obtain with any other foraged ingredient.
Ramsons are also an indicator of ancient woodland. Wherever they grow in profusion, other native species are likely to be found.
These include the Arum lily, an interesting plant also known by the colloquial names of Lords and Ladies and Priest’s pintle.
When well grown, the Arum lily is easily distinguished from any amount of ramsons. In infancy, it can be found at the same height and with leaves that, at first glance, don’t look too dissimilar from the wild garlic we intend to gather.
While some enterprising cooks will make a fine pesto from wild garlic (which will keep them going for the rest of the year), I prefer to make the most of the short harvesting period and move on to other free foods as they become available.
That said, there is something pleasing about opening a jar in the depth of winter to enjoy a taste of things to come.
As well as the culinary value of ramsons, the plant also has a long history of use in folk medicine.
What’s that you have? A touch of arthritis and a rheumatic tinge? What you need is a natural anti-inflammatory, and happily we have one right here!
The chemical compound contained in ramsons and used medicinally is called allicin, which has also been shown to reduce blood pressure and inhibit the development of fatty deposits in the human body.
So there you are – eat as much wild garlic as you want, without fretting or putting on an ounce.
A word of warning! The Arum lily, Arum maculatum and subspecies of it contain toxic substances known to cause breathing difficulties and kidney damage.
Happily, the unpleasant taste of more than a leaf or two will alert even the most insensitive among us that all is not right with their meal, and misadventure can easily be avoided.
Just take care out there.