How to make healthy wild garlic pesto, foraged for FREE

If you’re stuck for something to do this weekend, try foraging for wild garlic. I’m a big fan of foraging for wild food, especially as it’s free!

I had a lovely spring walk last weekend at Dalkeith Country Park just outside Edinburgh with my children. The air was thick with the smell of wild garlic, which covered most of the woodland floor. So we picked a bagful, took it home and I knocked up a batch of wild garlic pesto – keep reading for the recipe.

At this time of year, wild garlic is in season. It grows in damp, shaded woodland or along the banks of rivers and burns and has a distinctive garlicky smell. The leaves are dark green and spear-shaped, with white star-shaped flowers which come out from April onwards.

The flowers can be added to salads and the leaves make fabulous soup, garlic butter, cream cheese dip or garlic pesto. Pick the youngest leaves from the middle of the plant as they have the best flavour. Wash and dry the leaves and keep them in a tied bag in the fridge as the smell can permeate into other things. Then try it in your cooking!

Wild garlic has many health benefits:

• It is effective in reducing high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, thus helping to prevent heart disease.
• It acts as a tonic to the digestive system, and is useful in the treatment of diarrhoea, colic, wind and indigestion. 
• Eating garlic helps to neutralise poisons in the liver, eg alcohol.
• All of the alium plants, of which wild garlic is one, contain protein and vitamins A and B complex.

Recipe for Wild Garlic Pesto 
These amounts are approximate, I tend to wing it a bit until I’m happy with it.

Ingredients

• 2 or 3 handfuls wild garlic
• 120g pine nuts and/or almonds, cashews or whatever you have to hand
• 80g grated strong cheese (pecorino or Grana Padano)
• Olive oil or rapeseed oil, or a mixture of both
• Juice of half a lemon
• Black pepper (no need for salt as the cheese is salty)

Method

1. Wash the wild garlic thoroughly, especially if it has been picked in a dog walking area! Best to pick away from the sides of the path…   
2. Drain, pat dry, put wild garlic in a food processor and chop finely. My 13 year old Magimix is still going strong! You can also do this by hand if you don’t have a food processor.
3. Add the nuts and cheese and blend until all ingredients are finely chopped and well mixed.
4. Add the lemon juice, pepper and oil, a little at a time, until you get a taste and consistency you are happy with.
5. Store in clean jars in the fridge, with enough oil to cover the pesto, as this acts as a preservative. You can also freeze it in small batches in ice cube trays.
6. Enjoy!​ If you're planning a date night, make sure you both eat it - it's fairly potent!

If you are interested in learning more about foraging, there are some great books available, such as Richard Mabey’s Food for Free. It’s a Collins Gem so will easily fit in a pocket when you’re out for a walk.

You can also do fantastic foraging courses and guided walks around Scotland. Have a look at these guys – Mark Williams at Galloway Wild Foods or Monica Wilde at Wilde in the Woods. You won't be disappointed!