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Wild garlic risotto is the spring version of the Italian rice classic. Here you will find a delicious recipe for the aromatic main course.

Spring is wild garlic season. The green leaves are good for adding a garlic-like aroma to all kinds of dishes. Our simple risotto recipe also gets a special freshness from the wild garlic.

Do you want to collect wild garlic yourself? In another article, you will find tips for harvesting wild garlic.

Note: Our recipe for wild garlic risotto contains dairy products. Pay particular attention to organic quality with these ingredients. This way you can be sure that the products come from cows that have been raised humanely. We can particularly recommend the organic seals from Demeter, Bioland, and Naturland, as they stipulate stricter criteria than the EU organic seal.

Wild garlic risotto: A simple recipe

Ingredients:

1 small onion
250 grisotto rice
2 tbsp organic butter
100 mlorganic white wine
750 ml vegetable broth
1 handful of wild garlic
50 gOrganic Montello
Salt
pepper

Directions:

Cut the onion into small cubes. Wash the rice thoroughly under cold water in a colander.
Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté the diced onions in it for about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Then add the risotto rice to the pot and cook until translucent, 3 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the white wine and simmer until the wine is almost gone, about 5 minutes.
In the meantime, prepare the vegetable broth so that you can use it while it is still hot. Turn the stove to low heat. Then add 2 ladlefuls of the stock to the rice and let it simmer, stirring occasionally. Continue until the broth is used up and the rice is cooked through. This takes about 30 minutes in total.
Wash the wild garlic and chop it into fine strips. Grate the Montello.
Stir the wild garlic, the Parmesan and the remaining butter into the risotto. Finally, season the wild garlic risotto with salt and pepper. Complete!

Wild garlic risotto: possible variations

A wild garlic risotto can easily be enriched with other ingredients. For example, you can start by frying a handful of chopped mushrooms together with the onions and then prepare the risotto as in the recipe. Or you stir finely diced smoked tofu into the wild garlic risotto before serving.

The wild garlic season is short and wants to be savored all the more intensively. If you want to enjoy wild garlic the rest of the year, you can preserve the wild vegetables. We present different methods.

In spring, the leaves of the aromatic wild garlic only sprout from the ground for a few weeks. The wild garlic season usually runs from mid-March to early May. Then the wild garlic begins to bloom. Contrary to widespread belief, the weed is not poisonous, but the leaves become fibrous and lose their taste.

In order to be able to enjoy wild garlic all year round, you can preserve it. This is also recommended if you have harvested too much wild garlic and cannot use it while it is still fresh. There are several methods you can use to preserve wild garlic: you can process it into a more durable food like wild garlic oil, freeze it, or dry it.

Preserve wild garlic: these recipes make it possible

Wild garlic not only tastes fresh as an ingredient in a wild herb salad or wild garlic butter. There are a number of recipes with which you can preserve wild garlic and use it for a longer time.

Wild garlic oil: By soaking wild garlic in oil, you can preserve it for up to a year. You can use the aromatic oil to refine salads or pasta far beyond the wild garlic season.
Wild garlic salt: With this recipe, you can keep wild garlic for at least a year. You can sprinkle the wild garlic salt over a sandwich or give a garlic-like aroma to a vegetable pan.
Wild garlic pesto: With this classic, you can preserve wild garlic for several months. Wild garlic pesto tastes great with pasta, risotto or as a basis for a salad dressing.
Pickled wild garlic buds: Wild garlic buds are also edible. The plants form them shortly before flowering, i.e. from around mid-April. From this you can then produce the so-called wild garlic capers – a regional alternative to the caper plants native to the Mediterranean region. The wild garlic buds will keep in the fridge for up to four weeks.

Preserve wild garlic by drying

You can use dried wild garlic in a variety of ways even after the wild garlic season is over. For example, it adds a slightly spicy flavor to home-made herb salad mixes.

Note that dried wild garlic is significantly less flavorful than fresh wild garlic. Still, drying is a better alternative than possibly throwing away parts of an oversized crop. This allows you to preserve the leftover wild garlic if you can no longer eat it before it wilts.

Preserve wild garlic: This is how you freeze wild garlic

Fresh wild garlic tastes best. But after just two days in the fridge, it wilts. If you freeze wild garlic, you can keep it for about six months longer.

You can freeze wild garlic either in a glass or in practical ice cube molds. You can find the corresponding instructions here: Freezing wild garlic and preserving it: Here’s how!

Tip: You can also make dishes prepared with wild garlic last longer by freezing them. Wild garlic soup, for example, is suitable for freezing in jars. A wild garlic quiche can also be frozen easily.

In March, the wild garlic season finally begins again. Wild garlic spaetzle are perfect as a fresh and delicious spring dish. We’ll show you how to prepare the spaetzle.

Spaetzle are a typical Swabian dish. They are served as a side dish, but often also as a main course. Wild garlic spaetzle taste unique and are filling at the same time. You can prepare them relatively easily and quickly with just a few ingredients. The wild garlic season is from mid-March to mid-May. During this period you can buy wild garlic regionally and freshly or pick it yourself:

Make sure that your food is organic if possible, especially animal products. An organic seal confirms species-appropriate animal husbandry. In addition, it is also worth buying eggs without chick shredding. In this way you ensure that the male chicks are also raised.

Wild garlic spaetzle: Spring recipe

Ingredients:

100 g wild garlic
400g flour 4 eggs
1 pinch(s) of salt
50 ml water 2 onions
1 tablespoon neutral vegetable oil

Directions:

Wash the wild garlic, spin dry and then chop very finely.
Place the flour, eggs, and salt in a bowl and use a mixer to mix the ingredients into a smooth batter. Gradually add a portion of the water while stirring until the 50 milliliters are used up. Stir the batter until it bubbles.
Stir the chopped wild garlic into the batter. Then let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes.
Peel the onions, halve and cut into thin slices. Then fry them in a pan with neutral vegetable oil over low heat until golden brown.
Then bring salted water to a boil in a saucepan.
As soon as the water boils, rub the dough into the boiling water using either a spaetzle strainer or a spaetzle press. It’s easiest if you pour the batter into the strainer or press in batches and scrape or press into the water.
If you don’t have a spaetzle sieve, spread the dough very thinly on a board. Hold the board against the edge of the pot, use a long knife to pry off small strings from the dough and slip them into the water.
Remove the spaetzle as soon as they float to the surface and place them in a bowl of cold water. That way they don’t stick together.
Mix the finished spaetzle with the onions and season with pepper and salt. The delicious, homemade wild garlic spaetzle are ready.

Wild garlic spaetzle: Vegan variant

With a few small changes, you can also prepare the wild garlic spaetzle vegan. The eggs are omitted from the recipe. For the dough, you need a little more water, soy flour, and a little turmeric for the yellowish color. The rest of the steps remain the same.

Use in step 2:

  • 250 ml water instead of 50 ml water
  • 3 tbsp soy flour or egg replacer instead of eggs
  • 0.5 tsp turmeric (for the color)

Wild garlic dumplings are a hearty, vegan dish that you can easily prepare yourself in spring. You can find out here what you need apart from fresh wild garlic.

Wild garlic dumplings or dumplings in general are a dish from southern German and Austrian cuisine. The round treat traditionally consists mainly of old rolls, eggs, milk and wild garlic. But it’s also easy vegan. You can serve them with a side salad or eat them with a sauce.

You can pick wild garlic yourself in many forests in Germany in March and April. It is important that you are able to recognize wild garlic and do not confuse it with the poisonous lily of the valley – these look very similar to wild garlic.

Important: Buy the ingredients for the dumplings with an organic seal. This is how you avoid chemical-synthetic pesticides.

Wild garlic dumplings: recipe with step-by-step instructions

Ingredients:

400 gilte rolls, cut into cubes
2 small onions
6 tbsp vegan butter
225 ml plant drink
4 tsp locust bean gum
200 g fresh wild garlic
salt, pepper and nutmeg
possibly some flour or breadcrumbs

Directions:

Place the bun cubes in a bowl.
Peel and chop the onions.
Heat two tablespoons of the vegan butter in a pan or saucepan and sauté the onion pieces in it until translucent.
Add the sautéed onion to the bun cubes.
Then add the plant-based milk and the locust bean gum and mix everything together roughly with your hands or a wooden spoon. Let it swell for half an hour.
In the meantime, wash the wild garlic, chop it up and mix it into the bread roll mixture.
Season the dumpling dough with salt, pepper and nutmeg. If it is too soft or runny, you can add some flour or breadcrumbs and knead it in.
Bring salted water to a boil in a large saucepan.
Use your hands to form round dumplings from the dough and add them one by one to the boiling salted water. Turn the heat down and let it steep for about 15 minutes.
Lift the dumplings out of the water and let them drain.

Baking wild garlic bread yourself is easy with this vegan recipe, even as a baking beginner:in. You can pick the spicy herb yourself in many parks and forests during the wild garlic season.

The vegan wild garlic bread with spelled flour not only tastes good for dinner, but is also an excellent accompaniment to a cream soup. The recipe is not very complex, but needs a bit more preparation time due to the rising time.

Wild garlic bread: recipe and preparation

Ingredients:

0.5 cubes of fresh yeast
150 ml lukewarm water
500 g spelled flour (type 630)
10 g salt
5 gsugar
150 ml oat drink
2 tbsp olive oil
50 g fresh wild garlic leaves

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.
Put the spelled flour in a mixing bowl and add the salt and sugar.
Pour in the yeast water, the oat drink and the olive oil and mix all the ingredients together well.
Knead the dough with the dough hook of a food processor or a hand mixer until it gets a smooth and silky surface. This can take ten to 15 minutes. The longer you knead, the nicer the structure of your wild garlic bread will be later. Tip: If you don’t have a food processor, you can also knead the yeast dough by hand. You should take at least 15 minutes to do this.
Cover and let the ball of dough rest in a warm place for about 60 minutes. During this time, its volume should double.
Towards the end of the resting time, wash the wild garlic leaves and chop them roughly.
Knead the bread dough thoroughly with the chopped wild garlic and divide the dough into four parts.

Shape each of the pieces into a roll 10 to 12 inches long. Twist two rolls of dough together and place them on a baking sheet greased with olive oil.

Bake the two wild garlic breads in the oven at 220 degrees Celsius top and bottom heat for 20 to 30 minutes until light brown.
Allow the wild garlic bread to cool before serving.

Wild garlic bread: tips for preparation

With just a few changes, you can easily vary the recipe for wild garlic bread:

If you use dry yeast, you need a whole packet for the wild garlic bread.
As an alternative to the simple twisted braid, you can also bake the wild garlic bread in a greased and floured loaf tin.
Finally, knead a handful of sunflower seeds into the dough, then the wild garlic bread has a bit more bite.
Sprinkle the wild garlic bread with sesame seeds before baking. Not only does it look pretty, it also tastes delicious.
For a Mediterranean flavor, chop a handful of sun-dried tomatoes and mix them into the batter.
Depending on the season, you can use other herbs instead of wild garlic, e.g. rocket, basil or herb mixtures.
Use up your bread as quickly as possible – it tastes best fresh!

Tip: Your freshly baked wild garlic bread tastes best if you spread it with homemade wild garlic butter.

Ingredients for your wild garlic bread

Depending on the region, the wild garlic season in Germany begins in early to mid-March. Wild garlic is one of the most popular wild herbs in local cuisine. The leaves contain valuable essential oils, as well as vitamin C and minerals such as iron, manganese and magnesium.

It is best to harvest wild garlic yourself and process it fresh. Wild garlic wilts quickly and tends to mold, which is why you rarely find it in the supermarket. Alternatively, you can buy it at the farmer’s market or from regional direct suppliers.

Use organic spelled flour for the wild garlic bread: It is free of pesticides and you support ecologically sustainable agriculture. Also pay attention to regional cultivation: products from the region have shorter transport routes and are therefore better for the climate.

Tip: Wild garlic bread can also be frozen well. It’s best to freeze it in slices, then you can thaw them individually in the toaster or on the grill and roast them until crispy.

If you dry wild garlic, you can also use the delicious wild herb out of season. Here you can find out how you can dry wild garlic yourself and what you should consider.

It is worth drying wild garlic. The weed is only fresh and ready to harvest in spring, but you can use it dried all year round.

Wild garlic normally grows outdoors as a weed. But you can also plant wild garlic in the garden. Find out beforehand when wild garlic season is.

To dry wild garlic, you have two options: let the leaves dry in the air or in the oven. We recommend that you air-dry the wild garlic if possible to save energy.

Dried wild garlic can be kept for a few months if you store it in a dry place that is protected from light.

Wild garlic dry in the air: This is how you do it

How to air dry wild garlic:

Wash the leaves and gently pat dry with a kitchen towel.
Tie the leaves at the stems into a small bouquet. Use a cord made of natural materials, such as raffia, or kitchen twine.
Hang the bouquet in a dark and dry place. Make sure the place doesn’t have high humidity.
Let the wild garlic dry for about a week or two.
Pick up the dried bouquets. If necessary, you can crumble the wild garlic or keep it in the form of a leaf. Store the dried wild garlic in a dry and cool place, preferably in an opaque container.
Tip: You can tell if the leaves are done drying by the fact that they rustle when they rub against each other. You can also easily rub the dried leaves between your fingers and snap off the stems.

Dry wild garlic in the oven

If you don’t have a suitable place for air drying, you can alternatively dry the wild garlic in the oven. However, this process is very energy-intensive.

How to do it:

Wash the leaves and gently pat dry with a kitchen towel.
Remove the stalks from the wild garlic leaves.
Spread them out on a wire rack or baking sheet so they don’t touch each other
Set the oven to 40 degrees Celsius and put the tray in the oven.
Leave the door slightly ajar to allow the moisture to escape.
Turn the leaves regularly so they dry evenly.
After three to four hours, the leaves should be dry. However, check the degree of drying regularly beforehand to avoid burning the leaves.

Use dried wild garlic

Wild garlic is a popular herb for cooking and seasoning. The taste is reminiscent of garlic and gives your food a subtle spiciness. Use your dried wild garlic in a variety of ways in the kitchen.

Make your own wild garlic butter or wild garlic soup. Dried wild garlic is also a suitable spice for wild garlic bread or wild garlic dumplings, or you can use it to refine a wild garlic pizza.

The wild garlic spread tastes spicy and fresh. It fits well into spring and brings variety to your bread. Here we present you a recipe with only five ingredients.

The wild garlic spread is a recipe for spring – because then the wild garlic season begins. Wild garlic tastes similar to garlic: spicy and slightly hot. The wild herb goes well in light dishes, you can combine it with other spring vegetables. For example, wild garlic pesto tastes particularly good with green asparagus. You can discover more spring vegetables in our seasonal calendar.

When buying your products for the wild garlic spread, pay attention to organic quality. When it comes to dairy products in particular, it is important to ensure species-appropriate husbandry. A good point of reference are the seals of the organic associations Demeter, Naturland and Bioland. If possible, choose your groceries from regional retailers to avoid long transport routes and the associated high CO2 emissions. If you want to harvest the wild herbs right in your garden, then simply plant wild garlic yourself.

Make wild garlic spread yourself

Ingredients:

100 g fresh wild garlic
1 clove(s) garlic (optional)
300 g cream cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pinch(s) salt (optional)
1 pinch(s) pepper (optional)

Directions:

Wash the wild garlic and pat dry. Set aside some leaves for the garnish at the end.
Peel the garlic clove. If the wild garlic is already spicy enough for you, you can also omit the garlic.
Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix them with the immersion blender or hand mixer to an even cream.
Season the spread with salt and pepper as needed.

Chop the remaining wild garlic leaves and sprinkle over the spread before serving.

The vegan variant for the wild garlic spread

Make the wild garlic spread without any animal products and use a vegan alternative instead of cream cheese:

  • Cashew cream cheese
  • Vegan cream cheese
  • Vegan cottage cheese
  • Vegan yogurt

Tip: Serve the spread with fresh wild garlic bread, for example.

Garlic confit is a method that significantly extends the shelf life of garlic. Here you will find a simple recipe for the aromatic oil bulbs.

Confit is a good way to preserve garlic and prepare it for further processing. Making garlic confit yourself is also very easy and only takes a few minutes.

When buying garlic, look for organic quality if possible. You are supporting ecologically more sustainable agriculture that treats the earth’s natural resources with care. We particularly recommend the organic seals from Demeter, Bioland, and Naturland, as they set stricter criteria than the EU organic seal.

By the way: Even without processing it into confit, you can significantly extend the shelf life of garlic by storing it well. In another article, we show you how to store garlic properly.

Make garlic confit yourself: Here’s how

Ingredients:

3 bulbs of garlic
300 ml rapeseed oil

Directions:

Peel the garlic cloves. This is particularly easy with our tips for peeling garlic.
Place the garlic cloves in a small saucepan. Add the canola oil so that all the cloves are completely covered.
Heat the oil at low temperature. Let the garlic simmer in the warm to hot oil for 45 minutes or until the cloves are soft and lightly browned.
Then put the garlic cloves in a sufficiently large and sterilized screw-top jar and pour in enough oil to completely cover them. Complete!

Garlic confit: shelf life and further processing

Covered with enough rapeseed oil, the garlic confit will keep in the fridge for up to six months.

You can use both the preserved garlic and the oil for a variety of recipes:

Toum: Vegan Garlic Sauce Recipe
Aubergine Soup with Garlic and Herbs: A plant-based recipe
Skordalia: Greek Potato Garlic Cream Recipe
Garlic Potatoes: A recipe for the hearty side dish

You can simply process the cloves like fresh garlic. They taste a little milder than the fresh version. Garlic confit oil is good for adding a savory flavor to dishes.

With wild garlic flower recipes you ensure culinary variety in spring. You can harvest the flowers from May. Here are three simple recipe ideas.

Wild garlic is in season in Germany from the end of March to the end of May. In late April and early May, the aromatic herb begins to bloom for two to three weeks – and these delicate wild garlic flowers are edible.

You can collect wild garlic and wild garlic blossoms yourself in spring in many places. In another article you will find out what you should consider when harvesting wild garlic.

When it comes to the ingredients for the wild garlic flower recipes, make sure they are organic if possible. You are supporting ecologically more sustainable agriculture that treats the earth’s natural resources with care. The organic seals from Demeter, Bioland and Naturland are particularly recommended, as they require stricter criteria than the EU organic seal.

Wild Garlic Blossom Recipes: Pesto

Wild garlic blossom pesto gives pasta dishes a fresh and aromatic note. Preparation is easy and doesn’t take long. Important: The pesto has to steep for at least four weeks before you can use it.

Unopened, the wild garlic blossom pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for up to four weeks. Opened jars should be used within a week.

Ingredients:

5 handfuls of wild garlic flowers
1 tbsp pine nuts
5 tbsp olive oil
3 tsp salt
1 pinch(s) of pepper

Directions:

Wash the wild garlic flowers carefully but thoroughly. Remove their stems. Chop the pine nuts. Place both ingredients in a medium-sized bowl.
Add about half the olive oil, salt and pepper. Mix the ingredients together until the wild garlic pesto has a slightly mushy consistency.
Put the wild garlic pesto in a sterilized jar that you can seal airtight. Cover it with the remaining olive oil. Important: Let the pesto sit for four to eight weeks before using it.

Wild Garlic Blossom Recipes: Aromatic Oil

The preparation of wild garlic blossom oil is also very easy. This herbal oil goes well with pasta, vegetable dishes or to flavor herb quark. You should plan some time again, because the oil also has to steep for at least four weeks before it is ready for consumption.

Unopened and protected from light and heat, wild garlic blossom oil can be kept for up to six months. Opened oil should be used up within six weeks.

Ingredients:

1 handful of wild garlic blossoms
100 ml rapeseed oil
1 pinch(s) of pepper

Directions:

Wash the wild garlic flowers carefully but thoroughly. Remove their stems. Then place them on a clean tea towel and pat them as dry as possible.
Put the wild garlic blossoms together with the rapeseed oil and the pepper in a sterilized jar that you can seal airtight. Brown glass is particularly suitable because it protects the herbal oil from environmental influences and thus extends its shelf life. The wild garlic blossoms should be completely covered by the oil.
Let the wild garlic blossom oil steep in as dark a place as possible for four weeks. Strain the wild garlic blossoms before using the oil.

Wild garlic blossom vinegar

Wild garlic blossom vinegar is prepared in a similar way to the oil. The herbal vinegar is well suited for quick salads. With this recipe, too, you have to allow three to four weeks for the vinegar to steep.

Wild garlic blossom vinegar can be kept unopened for up to five years. Once opened, you should use it within six months.

Ingredients:

1 handful of wild garlic blossoms
100 ml white wine vinegar colored peppercorns

Directions:

Wash the wild garlic flowers carefully but thoroughly. Remove their stems. Then place them on a clean tea towel and pat them as dry as possible.
Put the wild garlic blossoms together with the white wine vinegar and the peppercorns in a sterilized jar that you can seal airtight. The wild garlic blossoms should be completely covered by the vinegar.
Let the wild garlic blossom vinegar steep for three to four weeks. Then strain the wild garlic blossoms and peppercorns and fill the vinegar into a clean bottle.

Wild garlic blossoms as an aromatic ingredient

You can also use wild garlic blossoms in their unprocessed form as an ingredient for various dishes. For example, you can mix the washed flowers with fresh wild herb salads or decorate various dips with them.

Garlic, like its beneficial properties, has been known to mankind since ancient times, it was actively used in cooking hundreds and thousands of years ago. People have long paid attention to its features and came to the conclusion that a plant that copes with diseases so well probably has another power, and therefore garlic was awarded the “ability” to fight various evil spirits. Interestingly, this superstition originated in many different cultures of the past, independently of each other.

  1. In Japan and Korea, the so-called “black garlic” is a popular delicacy. It turns out if the heads of garlic are fermented at high temperatures. It is indeed black in color and has a sweet taste.
  2. Scientists have proven that people who consume more garlic are less likely to suffer from heart disease.
  3. Garlic is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins needed to keep the body healthy. Its heads are one of the richest sources of potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, zinc and selenium.
  4. Garlic was found in sarcophagi with closed eyes and in the internal cavities of Egyptian mummies. Garlic may have ritual significance
  5. In ancient Egypt, garlic was included in the diet of workers engaged in hard work, such as building pyramids to maintain and increase the strength of the workers. Once, about 1600 BC. e., a rebellion broke out there when the workers at the construction of the pyramids did not receive garlic.
  6. Garlic contains over 100 chemically active elements.
  7. Garlic is a natural antibiotic that strengthens the immune system and thins the blood.
  8. The name of the American city of Chicago, translated from one of the Indian languages, means “wild garlic”.
  9. In 1720, garlic entered the history of mankind as its savior, in the truest sense of the word. Thanks to garlic, France was saved. Garlic mixed with vinegar saved the French from a raging plague that could spread throughout the world and destroy masses of people.
  10. In ancient Rome, garlic was necessarily included in the diet of warriors, not only for health, but also because they believed that it gives courage and masculinity.
  11. In ancient times, it was believed that the evil spirits are afraid of the smell of garlic, so garlands with dried garlic were a talisman in many homes.
  12. The cultivation of garlic began about 5 thousand years ago.
  13. Garlic is capable of killing many harmful bacteria.
  14. The unofficial title of the garlic capital of the world is the Spanish city of Las Pedronieras.
  15. In 2009, there was a swine flu epidemic in China, and because of rumors that garlic is helping to cope with this dangerous disease, prices for garlic rose 40 times during the year due to the manifold increase in demand.
  16. For cats and dogs, garlic is quite toxic and therefore dangerous.
  17. Scientists discovered that garlic contains antibiotics back in the 19th century.
  18. In ancient India, garlic was actively used as a medicinal plant, but it was not eaten there because of its pungent smell.
  19. Most of the world’s garlic is consumed in China, Korea and Italy. In these three countries, on average, about 10 cloves of garlic are eaten daily per capita.
  20. Garlic originates from Central Asia. The researchers found that for the first time people began to domesticate this plant in the territory of modern Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.