Our walk in the woods - wild garlic

The only place you can get ingredients is the shops, right?! Wrong! Today, my family and I went for a walk in the woods with our grandparents. We went looking for bluebells, and we found lots! But we also found some little white flowers; wild garlic!

The wild garlic flowers

You always need to check with an adult first before eating wild plants - and always pick them from the back. Don't pick too many either; leave some for the other people to enjoy.

Wild garlic is pretty, yet useful. You can pick off the flowers and sprinkle them into salads, or if you have made some garlic bread (see below for an easy-peasy recipe) you could scatter them onto the plate for decoration. You can eat the flowers whole, but don't put the whole head of the flower in you mouth - it's really strong! Unfortunately, I found that out the hard way!!!

If you love garlic bread but never have time to make any, this is a simple, time saving recipe! All you need to do is pop some bread into the toaster (I find slices of baguette or crusty bread works well) or put them under the grill for a few minutes. Meanwhile, peel a garlic clove and cut off one end. Make lots of little cuts on the cut end of the garlic clove, and then rub it all over the toasted bread. Drizzle a little olive oil over the garlicky bread, then sprinkle over some salt. Now you can serve them on a plate with some wild garlic flowers, as a snack or a side to a main meal! 

This garlic bread can also be made into other things - if you leave out the oil and salt, you can put broccoli, onions or leeks on top of it. These are good as starters or sides. (Good tip Daddy!)