hey pesto...

the season for fresh & wild garlic

Spring in the Galilee is usually apparent when the lush landscape is covered in a carpet of wild flowers, the days are getting warmer and longer, and the the heady aroma of the green stemmed young garlic heads, fill the market air.

The fresh bulbs, also known as ‘green’ or ‘spring’ garlic’ are distinguishable by their elongated green leaves, purply papery skins, and a mass of spindly, ivory roots dangling from their base. The season is short for this culinary and medicinal staple, that has been an essential flavour in Middle Eastern cuisine, for centuries.

Ubiquitous within all areas of cooking, garlic is one of the oldest known food flavourings embraced by the Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, and thought to have been first cultivated by the Sumerians in Mesopotamia over 5000 years ago. The Ancient Egyptians valued garlic for its medicinal properties and believed it bore salient mystical powers to ward off evil spirits, and so nestled a few heads in the Tomb of King Tutankhamun, illustrating the plants cultural importance. Full of essential nutrients, antioxidants and cleansing properties, garlic was consumed to strengthen and give courage to the Roman army, and initially placed upon open wounds on the battlefield. According to Hippocrates, the Greek physician and father of modern medicine, garlic was “the natural reliever of many ailments” especially within the respiratory and digestive systems. It became part of every Greek athletes staple diet, as it was believed to enhance their performance when competing.

Allium sativum, is the botanical name for the fresh, soft bulbs, that are harvested whilst immature and before the cloves have had time to harden. Similar looking to spring onions (scallions) with their long, droopy leaves, green garlic has a delicate aroma, which pervades a verdant, mellow, garlicky flavour. Fresh and young, it lasts only a week or two in the refrigerator, and just like spring onions, both the greens and the bulbs can be used in soups, salads, stews, and sauces, bringing some warmth and spring freshness to every dish.

Allium ursinum, wild garlic grows across the northern terrain of the ancient, biblical landscape, in the open, semi shaded expanse of the mountainous Golan Heights. With such a very short season in late Spring, it is considered a delicacy here, and excitedly foraged by the culinary community to be eaten raw in salads or blitzed into bright green, fiery sauces to accompany meat, fish or seasonal vegetables. Wild garlic inherits the same healing properties as fresh garlic, which is has been used in traditional Arab medicine for centuries, to treat heart disease, toothaches and as an antiseptic, when wrapped around infected wounds.

The ancient books of Jewish laws known as the Talmud, were written by the rabbinical elders of Babylon circa 500 – 200 BCE, who recorded all the opinions and discussions around the regulations and values of the rel­­­­igion. It is scribed within these sacred texts that garlic was “filling, warming, causing happiness, increases fertility, killing damaging organism in the digestive system, induces feelings of love, and the feelings of jealousy” Bava Kamma 82:71. The ancient hebrew word for garlic, ‘shoom’ can also be found in the Old Testament when the Israelites were complaining of eating manna on their journey through the wilderness and remembered the wonderous array of foods they ate in Egypt before their Exodus. “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick. Alas, now our soul has withered; there is nothing at all beside this manna before our eyes”. Numbers 11: 5-6

The pretty white flowers and soft, shapely leaves make a fresh and fragrant addition to the seasonal Arabic diet. Gathered by Bedouins and Druze home cooks, garlic is added to other common winter greens such as mallow (hubeza), jarjir (arugula) and chicory (olesh) found growing wild across the terrain and cooked with olive oil, seasonal vegetables and legumes for a tasty nutritious dish. The bulbs are left in the ground so that the wild garlic reappears each year.

It is still a little early for wild garlic in England, awaiting as we are, for some warm March sunshine. Wherever there is an abundance of the aromatic plants, I love to rummage around the open ground and return to the kitchen with my fresh pickings to make pots of vibrant green pesto. Simple and quick to make, it locks in the pungent flavours of spring, and whether wild or green, can be used to perk up pasta, lamb, salmon or roasted squash.

ingredients:

100g wild garlic leaves / 4 stalks fresh green garlic with bulbs

15g fresh basil leaves, optional with wild, but adds fragrance to the fresh garlic

50g toasted pinenuts

50g parmesan cheese, finely grated

50-60 mls extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon, zested & juiced

salt

method:

wash & drain the wild garlic leaves & remove the flowers, set aside for garnish and salads, or trim the tops of the green garlic stalks, remove the roots & roughly chop

place the fresh or wild garlic in a food processor & add the basil leaves, if using toasted pinenuts, parmesan, lemon zest and some salt, blitz to a thick paste, leaving some texture in the nuts

add the lemon juice, & with the motor running, drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil until you have a smooth, blended paste, check for seasoning, adding more salt or lemon juice according to your palate, if the pesto remains a little thick, add a couple of tablespoons of warm water to loosen

place in a serving dish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, a few pinenuts & wild garlic flowers, refrigerate until use

Enjoy…