foraged allium pesto

Apr 9

Locally wild forms of garlic and onion are plentiful in the Midwest. We have a mix of native, naturalized, and non-native species, many of which are great edibles. Odorless until disturbed, they share the iconic skunky musk that makes Alliums easy to identify down to the genus level without much thought. Crushing, biting, or otherwise damaging the leaves causes the enzyme alliinase to convert alliin into allicin, flagged by the fresh pungent smell. Chicago is named after the skunky scent of ramps, the city’s name being a French rendering of the indigenous Miami–Illinois name for “striped skunk.”

The Allium species commonly found in the Chicago region are edible, but not all of them make for great eating. The large, ornamental Alliums that can reach four or five feet in height usually aren’t known to be great cooking ingredients, but I haven’t personally tried them.

Alliums have many different shapes and sizes, and while they do have some lookalikes, those plants lack the onion/garlic scent released when Allium leaves are crushed. If a plant’s crushed leaves smell strongly like onions, it’s an Allium. Dangerous plants with similar looking leaves include death camas, Lily-of-the-Valley and Star of Bethlehem, but none of them produce the same smell.

Native ramps (Allium ursinum) and non-native onion grass/chives tend to be the best known. Most Alliums have several common names, some of which are used redundantly towards different plants- it seems that almost every Allium is called wild garlic by someone.

Garlic chives (*Allium tuberosum*) from our backyard

We personally have non-native garlic chives (Allium tuberosum) in our apartment backyard, which grows underneath the pavers and seems impossible to entirely eradicate… so I eat them instead. They’re pungent, crunchy, and have a strong garlic taste in the leaves and bulb. You can dehydrate Alliums to cook with as dried chives, pickle the scapes, grill them, add them to salads...

Harvest

All parts of the plant are edible. Leaves and stems are easiest to harvest. The bulbs have concentrated flavor, and the scape is great for pickling. Follow research-based good practices for urban foraging, and always avoid harvesting from spots with dog piss or herbicide.

Non-native & invasive: If working with a non-native allium, it’s great to pull as much as possible out of the ground. Regardless, keep in mind that handpulling rarely fully eradicates the colony. Try to pull them with your hand, and the leaves will just snap off. They tend to grow in dense, thick clusters, so any little bulbs roots left underground will resprout next year. For our purposes, the best way to pull as much of the plant as possible is to grab a trowel, shove it in the ground next to the leaves, and lurch the plant upwards from below. You’ll see the exposed roots come up with the bulb.

Native: For native species, foraging follows a few guidelines. Only forage from strong, abundant plant colonies, and avoid taking more than 10% of what you can see (some say 20% for locally abundant plants that are not at risk.) Harvest in ways that allow the plant to recover, and avoid trampling.

There are a couple different methods for harvesting ramps sustainably, but the USDA outlines low-risk best practices. Cut off just one of the two leaves on each plant, don’t disturb the bulbs, and leave the roots. You can also insert a knife into the ground to cut off the bulb without harming the roots, but this takes a little more practice.

IMO, the leaves usually provide plenty of flavor. My parents have ramps in the woods on their Michigan orchard, so we go on a “ramp romp” when the timing is right to make huge batches of pesto. We often harvest the bulbs, but I find it causes unnecessary back fatigue when the leaves would have worked fine.

A small container of fresh pesto made in early April.

Any-Allium tiny batch Pesto

My mom is a life-long gardener. We grew up making pesto every year, and this is my favorite use for Alliums. Pesto can be make with any tasty leaf that you find, and it’s easy as hell.

Basic recipe: leaves, oil, salt. It can be chunky or smooth, creamy or not. Pesto is not a science as long as it tastes good in the end. Adjust proportions to your taste.

2ish cups of Allium leaves
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Dash of salt and pepper

Optional:

1 raw garlic clove (for extra kick)
1/4 cup of walnuts or pecans
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons of half-and-half or heavy cream

Cut roots off the bulbs and discord. Thoroughly rinse the foraged materials, then chop them roughly to avoid stringiness. Throw all materials in a food processer and blend to desired consistency.

Eat with scrambled eggs, in lasagna, on pizza or sandwiches, in grilled cheese, as a marinade, on crackers, in dips, on steak, or however else you can imagine.