Delicious Hoisin Style Sweet, Spicy and Crunchy Wild Garlic Crisps

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 love its garlicky flavour, you’ll adore these wild garlic crisps with their sweet and spicy hoisin-style coating. The combination of flavours is a match made in heaven.

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) grow 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 needed to make hoisin-style wild garlic crisps

• Wild garlic leaves
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• Two tablespoons smooth peanut butter
• One tablespoon of dark brown sugar
• Two teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
• Two teaspoons of sesame oil
• One teaspoon of sriracha sauce

You’ll also need a pastry brush and a lined baking tray.

How to make hoisin-style wild garlic crisps

Mix the soy sauce, peanut butter, brown sugar, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and sriracha sauce in a bowl.

Use a pastry brush to brush each side of each wild garlic leaf with the sauce before placing it on a baking tray in a single layer.

Bake in a low oven at around 130C until the leaves crisp up. How long the wild garlic crisps take will depend on how much moisture is in the leaves.

The wild garlic crisps below took about 20 minutes, and I turned them over once.

Eat crisps made from wild greens the same day, as they lose their crunch over time.

If you have enjoyed these wild garlic crisps, check out our stinging nettle crisps, flavoured with chilli flakes and nutritional yeast.

You can find more wild garlic recipes over on our blog including our delicious wild garlic butter with a secret ingredient.