Wild Garlic

This is a short guide on making use of wild garlic with a dehydrator. I’m by no means an expert in harvesting and preparing wild flowers but I am learning. If you have any feedback to give me I’m more than happy to learn.

What is wild garlic?

If you have ever wondered through a woodland and suddenly had a distinctive smell of garlic, chances are you’re walking over them. It has many names, another popular name for the plant is Ramson, it can be found all over the UK. Wild garlic has been known for centuries as a healing plant, to list some of the benefits:

• Lower blood pressure

• Reduce cholesterol

• Improve blood circulation

• Improves digestion

• Boosts immune system

• Can help fight coughs, colds, flus and sore throats

• Relieve cramps

• Used to treat skin disorders

So this was my experience…

Step one:

Pick the Wild Garlic! First I made sure that the plant I was looking at was actually wild garlic (It is known that there are 2 lookalike plants that are extremely poisonous and can cause death) so please be sure before picking. I followed a book (Food for free) to firstly identify. Then I crushed some in my hand to release a strong smell of garlic.

Step two:

I washed the wild garlic in my sink making sure I removed any insects and slugs clinging on for a free ride.

Step three:

I place each leaf in my shiny new dehydrator (£30 from Amazon, brand Andrew James). I made sure to leave a small gap between each leaf for the air to pass through. I stacked them up 6 shelfs high. I set the dehydrator to 45C and the timer for 12 hours over night.

Step four:

I removed the dried out leafs and placed them into a blender.

Step five:

The leafs were all dry but some were not crispy, I didn’t think this would be a problem until I started blending them. (I was being impatiens and should have left them on the dehydrator for longer). The none crispy ones didn’t break up very well in the blender, so I spent the next hour sieving them out.

Step six:

I found a cool jar to place them in and will now use them to make some Garlic Bread, Spag Bol and in a Soup over the next few days.

I hope this blog has been useful, if you have any questions please feel free to email me at explore@bee-adventures.co.uk If you want to tell us about your own wild flower experiments join our SUBSCRIBERS page and help us build an outdoor community of like-minded people!

#bloggingtips #wildflowers #hiking #mountaineering #walking #getoutside #outdoorcommunity #bee-adventures #lakedistrict #manchester #northwales #peakdistrict #wildgarlic