Backyard Wild Field Garlic Pancakes
Crispy, flaky, and slightly chewy, these wild field garlic pancakes turn an invasive and common place weed into a gourmet experience. Serve them alone, or with a simple dipping sauce for a tasty snack. You only need a few very basic ingredients to make these pancakes, once you’ve foraged your wild garlic. Wild garlic is a readily available edible plant, so head out into the great outdoors and we’ll see you back here when you’re ready to cook!
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What is Field Garlic
Field garlic, also called wild garlic, crow garlic, or onion grass, with the Latin name of Allium vineale is an extremely pervasive edible plant that hides in plain sight. There may well be some growing in your backyard right now, and without knowing what to look for it would blend right in. Field garlic originates in Europe, and is an invasive species in the United States where it grows on the Eastern and Western parts of the country (I believe it grows in similar areas of Canada as well). Field garlic looks a lot like grass, which can make finding it a little tough. The best time to locate wild garlic is early spring, since it shoots up before most grasses. In the summer, once the field garlic is surrounded up grass, they can be hard to spot, but once you know where it is they’ll be available all year round.
Disclaimer- use caution when foraging wild edibles, and always be certain of your identification. While I assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information provided on this site, I can’t be responsible for the accuracy of your information. Consult multiple websites, books and local experts, and when it doubt, do without.
Field garlic grows taller than most grass- often over a foot tall- and is a slightly darker shade of green. If you dig or pull up the whole plant, there is a small bulb on the bottom. The stems (which are technically leaves) are hallow, forming a long tube instead of most grasses, which are flat strands. But the best indicator of if you’re dealing with wild garlic or not is the smell- it should smell like onions or garlic. If it doesn’t, move on, there will be some wild garlic soon.
To harvest them, I generally just snip the chive-like leaves with scissors. You can dig up and use the bulbs too, but I don’t find that they’re worth cleaning up the extra dirt. Snipping also has the advantage of leaving the bulbs to grow, making it so you’ll have future field garlic harvests later in the season.
Field Garlic vs. Ramps
There are a few different species referred to as wild garlic, so I thought we should go through the differences. In the United States, people often refer to Allium trococcum as wild garlic- another common name for this edible is ramps. Ramps have broad leaves, and beautiful purple bulbs. But unlike field garlic, which is invasive and highly productive, ramps are a native plant that takes years to grow. Ramps have a seven year life-cycle, and over harvesting means they are listed as an endangered species many places. Some foragers only harvest the leaves and not the bulbs, and others rip the bulbs up. Chefs love the look and flavor of these wild gourmet plants, so over harvesting and unethical foraging is a huge concern. I personally do not harvest ramps, because of how easy they are to over harvest.
Another plant called wild garlic is Allium ursinum (bear garlic, ramsom, wood garlic), which is native to Europe, does not grow in the US, and has a look fairly similar to ramps. It is fairly common in Europe, and unlike ramps they are not endangered.
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Looking for Garlicky Recipes? Try one of these!
- Tomato and Garlic Vegetarian Sandwich Meat
- Garlic Yeasted Savory Zucchini Bread
- Garlic Scape Sweet Potato Pakoras or Fritters (Vegan)
- Garlic Mustard Recipe: Laminated Wild Ravioli
- Simple Wild Garlic Recipe- Allium vineale Hummus
How to Make Wild Field Garlic Pancakes
The first step towards these field garlic pancakes is getting the field garlic! Harvest a large number of stems- we’re going to want about 1 cup, all finely chopped. These field garlic pancakes are basically our take on scallion pancakes, which are made with a dough instead of a batter. The dough is pretty basic- it is made of salt, flour, and boiling water. Once your dough is formed, you’re going to want to let it rest a little so it’s easier to work with. And then its time to roll! Divide the dough into pieces. Take one of the pieces and roll it out- I do it sort of like a rectangle shape, but it’s really not too important what it looks like at this stage. Just get it rolled out nice and thin, and then brush it with a little oil. Add your chopped field garlic- there should be a nice layer over all the dough- and then roll it up into a snake shape to enclose all of the wild garlic. Roll that snake into a spiral- this is what gives you the great layers and beautiful spiral on the pancake later. Repeat with all the dough, so the little spirals have time to rest before you roll them out. When you do roll them out, do so gently. It’s okay if there are spots were some of the field garlic breaks through, but you want most of it to remain inside the dough. Roll it out so it’s about 7 inches in diameter, and then repeat with the other pancakes. To cook them, heat a skillet to medium heat and add enough oil to cover the surface. Place one pancake on the hot skillet, let it cook for a minute, and flip. If your pancake starts to puff up, you can use a spatula or chop sticks to push it down so it cooks evenly. After another minute or so, flip again. Keep on flipping ever 30 seconds or so, until both sides are crispy. Cook all the pancakes, and then chop them into pieces. You can eat them as is, or you can make a simple dipping sauce like this one.
Backyard Wild Field Garlic Pancakes
Ingredients
- 2 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 cup finely chopped field garlic
- Vegetable oil, as needed for cooking
Instructions
- Start by putting a kettle of water on to boil. Add the flour and salt to a heat safe mixing bowl, and whisk together. Once the water comes to a boil, add ¾ of a cup to the bowl. Use a wooden spoon to mix together, and add up to ¼ cup more water if needed. Once the dough has come together, turn it out on a clean, lightly floured surface and kneed (waiting if it’s very hot) for a couple minutes, until it is smooth and even. Return it to the bowl, cover with a clean dish cloth, and let rest for at least 10 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, wash your field garlic, pat it dry, and mince it into small pieces. Once the dough is rested, divide it into 8 even pieces. Then start rolling out your pancakes. This recipe uses a 2-part rolling system to get nice, flaky layers. On a well-floured surface, roll out one of the pieces of dough into a fairly thin, rough rectangle shape. Brush the surface with vegetable oil, and then evenly distribute around 2 tbsp. of field garlic. Roll the dough up into a snake shape, and then roll the snake up into a spiral (like a snail shell). Repeat with the remaining 7 pieces of dough. Take one of the spirals, and use a rolling pin to slowly flatten it. Roll it out until it is a thin pancake, about 7 inches across. Repeat with the remaining 7 spirals.
- Heat a skillet large enough to fit your pancakes to medium heat, and add a little vegetable oil. Once hot, place one of your pancakes on. After about one minute, flip the pancake. Let it cook another minute before flipping again. Cook until both sides are crispy (about 3 more minutes), flipping often. Repeat with the remaining pancakes. Cut the pancakes into quarters to serve. You can make a simple dipping sauce with soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and sugar, if desired.
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