Ramson (Allium ursinum)

AKA: Wild Garlic

Where: Shaded woodland, especially damp places. Common throughout the UK.

What: Leaves.

When: March – June

Very common, very plentiful, and very very tasty, the Ramson is a wonderful blessing to we happy foragers. Favouring the woodland clearing, and particularly damp areas (stream sides, ponds, etc), the Ramson often occurs in huge swathes; by mid-May it’s presence within a wood will be unmistakable, and by late June, it may be overpowering!

The leaves are fairly characteristic, up to 25cm long, emerging bright green and vibrant in March/April time from a single stem. Smooth and vaguely lined with a slightly coarse upper, and a smooth shiny underneath, they are thin, and taper, spear-like, to a point. These are what we want! Pick them, place them flat in a bag or basket, and use them fast – they don’t keep, and begin wilting almost immediately. The taste, though unmistakable and pungent, is more subtle than it’s more common and somewhat gauche cousin. It can be used as you would a regular bulb of garlic, but it can also be placed in a salad without fear of overpowering the other flavours. Generally, it is better to pick the leaves before they flower, as after the flowers emerge they become, I think, slightly bitter and insipid. The flowers themselves, incidentally also garlicky and edible, arrive in April onwards, and are white, 6-petalled, <1cm across, with a green centre and reddish stamens, and occur in large groups of 15 or more at the top of a single stalk. The root, also tasting of garlic, is available all year round, provided you can find the plant, but is in truth probably more trouble than they are worth.

All parts smell strongly of garlic, so there are no problems with identification, and although several species can be superficially similar to the leaves, it’s just a matter of crushing and sniffing!

I love Ramsons, I really do. Free garlic… c’mon, that’s excellent! 
Check out the recipe for a delicious Ramson Pesto in the next post.

Ramsons on the banks of Colden Brook, Hebden Bridge.

Close-up showing flowers (photo credit: Kurt Stüber via Wikipedia)