Here you will find instructions for freezing and preserving wild garlic. Wild garlic can be used in a variety of ways in the kitchen to prepare tasty dishes. But you have to preserve the delicious wild vegetables because they are not available all year round.
Cool wild garlic and preserve it
Wild garlic stays fresh in the fridge for about 2 days, after which it begins to lose its aromatic freshness. By the way, did you know that you can easily freeze wild garlic? So you can extend its availability to the whole year.
Ferment wild garlic
Fermentation is a typical way of storing food in Japan and Korea. In order to preserve wild garlic, it is fermented. The taste then changes to something sour, as the lactic acid bacteria decompose the wild garlic and convert it into acid. Vegetables preserved by fermentation are a tasty change of taste and have a very health-promoting effect on your body. Be sure to use gloves for the preparation if you don’t like green hands. You will need salt, empty screw-top jars, labels to write on, and a tray or plate. Fermenting only works in a dark place at 18-20 °Celsius.
- First, clean the wild garlic by carefully shaking out the leaves.
- Add 0.5 to 1 g salt per 100 g and put the wild garlic in a bowl.
- Knead everything well with your hands for a while.
- Fill the softly kneaded wild garlic into a clean glass.
- Leave 2 cm under the lid after you push it in.
- Seal the jar and label it with self-written labels.
- For two weeks you put it on a plate in a dark place at 18-20 degrees.
- Now the wild garlic is ready to eat. It has a shelf life of one year in a cool, dark place.
- Wild garlic deep-frozen
You can buy frozen wild garlic from many companies. But to go collect it yourself or to harvest it in your own garden is an experience. Hopefully, you have found a suitable method for preserving wild garlic in our compilation and can now season many delicious dishes with your own wild garlic. By the way: Even the flowers are edible and have a very aromatic taste!
Freezing wild garlic
Another way to preserve wild garlic is to freeze it. You need fresh wild garlic, water, broth, or olive oil. When it comes to wild garlic, you should note that it has not yet bloomed. This method works best if you’d like to take small portions for daily meals. By the way, did you know that wild garlic doesn’t smell as strong as garlic? You can grab it and still not smell like garlic from your mouth.
- Then pluck off the leaves first.
- Next, the wild garlic must be carefully washed.
- Then you should finely chop the leaves.
- Fill them in airtight plastic containers or in portions in ice cube trays.
- You can fill the small compartments of the ice cube tray with water, broth, or olive oil.
Freeze wild garlic differently
There are several ways to freeze wild garlic. They differ with regard to the type of use when later cooking with wild garlic. For example, you can freeze the wild garlic ready-made as pesto, herb butter, or spice stock cubes. You need clean containers with lids. Depending on the type of preparation, you also need butter, oil, or broth. We have put together preparation for pesto, a preparation for herb butter, and a preparation of the spice stock cubes for you.
- For the preparation with butter: Simply stir the chopped wild garlic into the butter with a spoon, using plenty of wild garlic. Then pour the mixture into the prepared glasses. You can even freeze the glasses.
- However, it is best to only fill the jars three-quarters full, as the liquid inside expands below 4 °C. If there is still enough space in the glass, it will not burst in the refrigerator compartment. Wild garlic butter tastes particularly good with freshly grilled meat, fish, or vegetables.
- For the preparation with oil: Puree the wild garlic with a little olive oil. Then simply pour it into a glass as usual. This way of preparing wild garlic is particularly suitable for preparing spaghetti with pesto. Pesto with wild garlic is a tasty change from tomato pesto or basil pesto.
- For the preparation with broth: With this preparation, you should puree the wild garlic with as little liquid as possible. Then freeze the wild garlic. This way of preparing wild garlic is particularly suitable for seasoning soups or sauces. You can use them like bouillon cubes. To freeze a cube shape, use an ice cube tray to freeze.
