A sure sign of spring is the arrival of wild garlic, native to Britain also known as Bear leek, Bear’s garlic, Broad-leaved garlic, Buckrams, Ramsons and Wood garlic. It has a lovely fresh garlic smell and taste and is perfect to use in all kinds of recipes such as risotto, pesto, soups, salads and added to bread.
Wild garlic has the familiar garlic taste but is lighter than a traditional garlic bulb. If you can’t find wild garlic you can use regular garlic in recipes or spell work instead.
Wild garlic can be found in damp areas of woodlands as winter comes to an end (around March time) and right through until the end of spring when it flowers (April through to June).Look for the deep green pointed leaves and white flowers (the flowers are edible too).If you find it in the wild do make sure you have identified it properly before eating. It can be confused with lily of the valley which is very poisonous.
Never take more than a small amount, leave enough for others and the wildlife and never pull out the entire plant, just pick some of the leaves.
Please also check that you are allowed to forage in the area.
Wild Garlic Stottie Cake
Called a cake but it is really a bread loaf from the North of England.It makes a lovely light fluffy bread and only requires one raising period.I have added in malted flour and wild garlic to this traditional recipe.
1 ½ lbs (680g) mixture of strong white bread flour and malted or wholemeal flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
½ ounce (15g) fresh yeast or 7g fast action dried yeast
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ pint (450mls tepid water)
Handful of chopped wild garlic leaves
Pre heat oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6
Butter or grease two large baking sheets
Crumble the fresh yeast into a jug, add the pepper, sugar and a little tepid water to mix. Place somewhere warm for 10-15 minutes so it can start to “work”. It is ready to use when it becomes frothy.
You can use dried yeast, in which case, just sprinkle the yeast with the pepper and sugar into the flour and salt in the next step.
Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and making a well in the centre, pour in the yeast mixture and the remaining water along with the chopped garlic leaves.
Mix and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. This needs to be well kneaded so do this for at least ten minutes.
Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a clean tea towel and pop in a warm place to allow the dough to rise. This takes about an hour and should double in size.
When risen, put the dough onto a floured board and divide into two pieces: roll out to make two large flat discs about 1” thick and then stick the end of the rolling pin in the middle of each disc to make an indentation.
Place the Stottie Cakes onto the greased or buttered sheets and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave them in there for up to half an hour to continue to bake.
Garlic Magical Properties:
Healing, protection, hex breaking, negative energies, lust, strength, courage, depression
Ruling planet – Mars
Element – Fire
Gender – Masculine
Practically Pagan Cooking - Rachel Patterson
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