Fermented Wild Garlic Buds Recipe

Fermnented wild garlic buds recipe

This fer­ment­ed wild gar­lic buds recipe is amaz­ing­ly tasty. It is also so easy to make. Very lit­tle prepa­ra­tion is required as we fer­ment the gar­lic in a sim­ple brine solu­tion. Ide­al for any­one try­ing out lac­to-fer­men­ta­tion for the first time.

This recipe makes use of the ram­son Alli­um ursinum. If you are new to col­lect­ing this wood­land plant first check out our arti­cle on iden­ti­fy­ing and for­ag­ing for wild gar­lic.

Please for­age for these plants respon­si­bly. If you see evi­dence of over-pick­ing or tram­pling of a wild gar­lic colony please think again and look else­where. Keep waste to a min­i­mum and col­lect only what you need.

Your wild gar­lic buds will need to be pick­led soon after col­lec­tion as they degrade quick­ly in the fridge. I rec­om­mend gath­er­ing togeth­er your oth­er ingre­di­ents and mate­ri­als in advance.

Ingredients

To make 2 x 1 litre jars of fer­ment­ed wild gar­lic buds you will need:

  • 600g of wild gar­lic stalks with unopened flower buds.
  • 70g of sea salt. Do not use table salts as these often con­tain iodine and anti-cak­ing agents detri­men­tal to fermenting.
  • 2 litres of dechlo­ri­nat­ed or spring water. Chlo­rine is a poi­son to the microbes we hope to encour­age in the fer­ment. You can remove the chlo­rine from tap water by boil­ing and then allow­ing to cool or sim­ply by leav­ing it out overnight in an open container.
  • 1/2 tsp pep­per corns per 1 litre jar
  • 1/2 tsp corian­der seeds per 1 litre jar
  • 1/2 tsp white mus­tard seed per 1litre jar
  • 1/4 tsp chili flakes per 1 litre jar (option­al).

Method

  1. Wash any soil from your col­lect­ed wild garlic.
  2. Mix the water and salt cre­at­ing a 3.5% brine solu­tion, ide­al for this ferment.
  3. Choose a pair of Kil­ner 1 litre jars or a sin­gle 2 litre jar. Any­thing with a lid and a wide mouth will do. Our fer­men­ta­tion jars with air­locks are per­fect for this recipe.
  4. Clean your jars well with warm soapy water or in a dishwasher.
  5. Pack the wild gar­lic stalks and buds by bend­ing them around the inside of the jar. This looks great and will also stop the gar­lic stalks from float­ing to the sur­face of the brine. Add the spices as you go. Allow for some decent head­room at the top of the jars, say 3–4cm.
  6. Pour in your brine until 2cm over the top of the wild gar­lic. Ensure none of the jars con­tents is float­ing on the surface.
  7. Close your jars and place some­where indoors out of direct sun­light to fer­ment. Do not for­get about them!
  8. After 48 hours the fer­ments will be pro­duc­ing bub­bles. If you are using sealed jars now is the time to burp them by briefly open­ing the lid. This allows the gas­es from fer­men­ta­tion to escape. Repeat this every day or two.
  9. Depend­ing on the ambi­ent tem­per­a­ture this fer­ment is usu­al­ly ready in about a week. Sam­ple the con­tents reg­u­lar­ly. When the fer­ment­ed wild gar­lic buds are to your taste seal your jars and place in the fridge, this will end the fer­men­ta­tion process. While refrig­er­at­ed your fer­ment­ed wild gar­lic buds will store well for many months.

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