Wild Ramsons Pesto
- woodlarker
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
It's ramsons season here in the UK - wild garlic. When you stumble across a patch of it in the middle of the woods, the unmistakeable scent will soon let you know.
It's a native plant here, and an indicator of ancient woodland. Soon, globes of white starry flowers will appear, which pack a hot garlic-tasting punch to salads but, for now, they're just a thick carpet of rich green leaves.
Of all the foraged foods, I think ramsons are probably one of the easiest to use - simply check them over, wash, shred, and throw into scrambled eggs or an omelette. If you want to be a bit more imaginative, it makes a really wonderful alternative to spinach in sag aloo.
You can find more about how to identify ramsons, their history and uses in this post from a few years ago.
One of my favourite uses for ramsons is pesto. It's like a celebration of that wonderful green! Yes, you can use it with your favourite pasta of course - but not just that. Swirl it into mashed potato, or stir it into cheesy stuffed jacket potato halves. Mix it into homemade burgers when you make the patties, use it on pizza, drizzle it onto cheese on toast... Are you drooling yet?
Wild Ramsons Pesto Recipe
This is a pretty forgiving recipe - adjust the quantities to what suits. You can use a stick style hand blender, a food processor, or a pestle and mortar.
Ingredients:
Roughly 100g (or half a large freezer bag, or a couple of large handfuls) of wild ramsons leaves, washed and fairly finely shredded
50g pine nuts
50g parmesan or pecorino cheese, finely grated
150ml olive oil
Zest and juice of a lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method:
Begin by blending the ramsons leaves. Add the rest of the ingredients, and blend again to the desired consistency. Season to taste. Done :-) Pour into a clean jar and marvel at the colour. It'll keep for several days in the fridge. Alternatively, ice cube trays work really well for freezing and then using it easily.
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