Wild garlic emerges in woodland and sheltered areas, and for a couple of months you can pick this natural bounty, shredding a few leaves and folding into dishes for a heady garlic aroma. Make the most of it - it is a short season.
There are a number of species of wild garlic: Allium Tricoccum, or Ramp, in North America and Allium Ursinum, or Ramsons, across Europe and Asia are a couple of the more prolific species.
Do be aware, that in certain areas of the world, wild garlic is endangered! Allium Tricoccum is a protected species under Quebec legislation and are considered a species of "special concern" for conservation in Maine, Rhode Island, and Tennessee.
I collected a good handful of Allium Ursinum, a name related to bears (ursus) who, apparently, go wild for this stuff! I take care to pluck the leaves, leaving the presently young bulb underground. Once they have matured a little, I'll pull up some bulbs.
Just ready, these new, young leaves are now mature enough to have a good flavour but have not yet flowered, so remain quite sweet. What better way to celebrate the coming of this wonderful plant than with a simple soup?
Making up a soup is simple ...
The base for all good soups is onion and garlic, softened in butter. To this, I also added celery.
Once softened, I added some water, bouillon, celery salt and black pepper. Stir in.
Cube up some potato and drop that in, raising the temperature to a good boil until the potato is softened.
Blend ... roughly.
Amounts? I'm cooking for two here and used maybe eight large leaves of garlic, a couple of long stalks of celery, a small onion and half a potato that might be large enough to bake.
Serve out into wide-brimmed bowls and garnish with some superfluous leaf: parsley, in my case.
