WILD garlic. Allium ursinum. Ramsons. Gypsy’s onions, bear leek, snake’s food and stinking Jenny. Call it what you will, this is the first glorious whiff of spring, a heady, pungent and intoxicating odour that gets the sap rising and the taste buds priapic with lust. Forget honeysuckle, roses and jasmine. Nope, this is a scent to truly stir the senses, primal, ancient and powerful, the essence of damp dells and shady bowers, of ancient woods and hidden streams. It’s a smell that doesn’t so much whisper as roar.
Yet the flavour of the leaf belies the power of its pong, more coy maiden than throaty harlot. Sure, eaten young and raw, wild garlic doesn’t lack power. But that power is soft, warm and relatively subtle. Especially when compared with its domesticated cousin. Once cooked, things become rather more gentle, the taste a mere shadow of its former self, albeit a sweet, delicate and lovely one. If it’s a true allium kick you’re after, however, try those tight buds, just before they explode into lacy white flower, some time towards the end of April. They kick like a bee-stung mule.
This story is from the April 08, 2020 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 08, 2020 edition of Country Life UK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
