Wild Garlic Butter

 Wild garlic is plentiful in the woods in Marianna, but its origin is believed to be in Asia, having been brought here about the 18th century.

Wild garlic is often confused with wild onion. Wild garlic has a hollow center and tube-like leaves, whereas wild onion has a solid center with flat leaves. Both have strong garlic or onion odor. And both plants are sometimes mistaken for wild leeks or ramps, or even the highly poisonous Lily of the Valley. Know your plants before you go foraging, or talk to an expert if you are unsure.

It is still kind of early to pick wild garlic for a recipe, or for drying, but being I plan to make spaghetti for dinner I thought it would be nice to make wild garlic butter for the bread.

I cleaned all the dirt and grit from the garlic roots and leaves, then peeled off any yellow skin around the bulb.  The roots were cut off and discarded.

I mixed 2 sticks of softened butter (vegan plant butter can be substituted) into my food processor, 3/4 tablespoon of olive oil, 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt, juice from 1/2 lemon, 1 tsp parmesan cheese (vegan parmesan can be substituted), and about 2 ounces of "cleaned" wild garlic.

I put the mixed butter in the center of a single piece of bakery paper I purchased on Amazon (which I originally bought for my mason bees tubes, but that will be another post). I rolled the paper up and then placed the covered butter in the fridge for several hours until somewhat hardened. 

I removed the paper and sliced the butter only so you can see what it looks like inside. I plan to use the butter as a spread, however, not in slices. 

I might add, that if I weren't making butter out of the wild garlic, I would have instead cleaned up a bit of wild garlic and added diced pieces (roots off) into the spaghetti sauce itself. 

Early spring, foragers know this is a special time to forage for certain plants because that is when some plants are most palatable when they are young. Wild garlic, not so much. It is good at any stage, in my opinion. I might add, wild garlic has many health benefits. There are many articles on the subject. 

DISCLAIMER-The content of this article is for educational purposes only. Before using or ingesting any wild herb or plant for edible or medicinal purposes, please consult a physician, medical herbalist, or other suitable professional for advice. Be overly cautious when foraging, don't eat anything in the wild you are unsure of, and never harvest more than half of a patch of any given plant.