Easy Wild Garlic Butter Recipe (with a Secret Ingredient!)

The secret ingredient in this recipe is lemon zest which pairs beautifully with the wild garlic and gives the resulting butter a wonderfully fresh, spring vibe.

What is wild garlic?

Wild garlic (Allium ursinum)is a delicious wild edible with a super short season like many of our spring perennials. Native to Britain, Wild garlic is also commonly known as Bear leek, Bear’s garlic, Broad-leaved garlic, Ramsons and Wood garlic.

Wild garlic is a plant of shady, damp woodlands, fields and hedgerows. Found growing throughout Britain, Ireland and Europe, it has a long history of being used as a medicinal and culinary herb and features in British and Irish folklore.

Closely related to domestic onions and garlic, all parts of this bulbous plant are edible and delicious. If you are a fan of its garlicky flavour, you’ll be pleased to know there are many easy ways to preserve wild garlic for the rest of the year.

Note: Allium tricoccum, commonly known as ramp, ramps, ramson, wild leek, wood leek, or wild garlic, is a North American wild onion widespread across eastern Canada and the eastern United States. Allium tricoccum is similar in looks, and taste to our native Allium ursinum and recipes for both are interchangeable.

Identifying wild garlic

This plant does have some poisonous lookalikes that can be mistaken for it. The clue is in the name; wild garlic has an intense smell of garlic which is the key identifying feature of this plant, so much so that you often smell it before you see it.

Lilly of the Valley (Convallaria majalis) and Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum) are found in the same habitat as wild garlic, although neither smells of garlic.

The most significant risk is accidentally gathering up Lords and Ladies’ leaves whilst collecting garlic leaves, as they frequently grow together.

A note on foraging.

• Only collect and eat wild foods that you are 100% sure you have identified correctly.
• Common sense says that if you entirely strip an area of wild food, you will damage that habitat, so only collect where food is bountiful and take reasonable amounts.
• Be aware of what happens in the area you are harvesting in. Plants near busy roads may be absorbing emissions from vehicles. If nearby fields are sprayed with pesticides, chances are some will also make their way onto wild plants. And if watercourses are polluted, your native plants will drink that water.

Ingredients

• 250 grams softened butter (you can use either salted or unsalted)
• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• Grated zest of an unwaxed lemon
• 25-50 grams wild garlic leaves.
• Sea salt and pepper (optional)

How to make wild garlic butter

Wash the wild garlic leaves, pat dry and chop finely.

Beat the butter and olive oil together in a bowl until well combined and slightly fluffy.

Stir in the zest, followed by the chopped wild garlic leaves.

Taste and season as required.

Spoon the flavoured butter onto a sheet of greaseproof paper or plastic food wrap, roll it into a sausage and place it in the fridge to chill. Once chilled, divide into two and use within a few days or freeze for longer-term storage.

This recipe roughly doubles the butter volume making two packs of butter.

Use wild garlic butter to make fantastic garlic bread or to garnish any cooked dish.

Note: Wild garlic loses much of its flavour when cooked, so consider adding it towards the end of cooking.

More wild garlic recipes.

• Wild Garlic Salt
• Hoisin-style Wild Garlic Chips