Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Wild Food guide to Ramsons along with all the Ramsons containing recipes presented on this site, with 16 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Cornish recipes added to this site.

These recipes, all contain Ramsons as a major wild food ingredient.

Ramsons, Allium ursinum (also known as buckrams, wild garlic, wood garlic or bear's garlic) is a wild relative of chives in the Alliaceae (onion/garlic) family. They tend to grow mainly in swampy deciduous woodlands, being most common in areas with slightly acidic soils. They flower before the trees get their leaves and fill the air with their characteristic strong garlicky scent.

Ramsons grow in marshy ground usually within woodlands. They're very common across Britain and if you come across a drift of them you will be aware of their presence long before you see them as they emit a strong garlic-like smell (hence the source of one common name: wild garlic). Ransom season is very short, however, and soon after it flowers the plant seeds itself and dies back.

The entire plant is edible and the bulb can be used as a garlic substitute (if you can get seed and you have a shady spot in your garden this is an excellent plant to grow). However, the plan't true glory is it's leaves which can be used raw in a salad. They are also excellent when finely shredded and mixed into an omelette. They can also be boiled and made into a kind of pesto-like pâté. The leaves are typically available from mid January. The young leaves are very pleasant in salads and when chopped finely are an excellent addition to mayonnaise. The flower heads are edible and can be added to salads, fried as fritters or used as a garnish.

The bulbs are edible, though fiddly to harvest (they are about 4cm long and 1cm in diameter). They can be dug up at any time the plant is dormant (from early summer to early winter). If harvested in early summer they will keep for at least 6 months. The small, green, bulbils that are sometimes found at the edges of the main bulb can be pickled as a caper substitute.

References:

[1]. David Evans Notes from field observations, tastings and cookery experiments.
[2]. Huxley, A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992
[3]. Tanaka, T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World.
[4]. Lim T.K. Edible Medicinal And Non-Medicinal Plants, Vols 1–8.
[5]. Thomas, G. S. Perennial Garden Plants
[6]. Milner, E. Trees of Britain and Ireland
[7]. Rose, F. & O'Reilly, C. The Wild Flower Key (Revised Edition) – How to identify wild plants, trees and shrubs in Britain and Ireland
[8]. Streeter, D. & Garrard, I. The Wild Flowers of the British Isles
[9]. Clapham, A.R.; Tutin, T.G. & Moore, D.M. Flora of the British Isles
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[10]. Phillips, R. Mushrooms
[11]. Jordan, P. & Wheeler, S. The Complete Book of Mushrooms: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Edible Mushrooms
[12]. Bunker, F.; Brodie, J.A.; Maggs, C.A. & Bunker, A. Seaweeds of Britain and Ireland.
[13]. Facciola, S. Cornucopia — A Source Book of Edible Plants