Store wild garlic - this way it stays fresh longer

Short-term storage in the refrigerator

If you want to use up the harvested leaves or flowers within a few days, you can put the wild garlic with a few drops of water in a freezer bag and place it in the refrigerator, sealed. Since the leaves are very sensitive to pressure, you should be very careful during harvest and transport so as not to have to accept any loss of aroma. Washing the wild garlic is often not recommended in favor of the aroma. In any case, you should wash the wild garlic thoroughly if it is wild garlic from forest areas. In this way, you usually rule out a risk from the fox tapeworm pathogen without heating the leaves. You can dry the washed leaves for freezing or further processing,by dabbing them with a soft kitchen towel.

The processing of wild garlic into intermediate products

While drying the leaves of wild garlic leads to a strong loss of flavor, freezing the whole or chopped leaves gives better results. Often, however, the wild garlic is also processed into intermediate products of the following types before storage:

Wild garlic pesto
Wild Garlic butter
Wild garlic oil

Wild garlic pesto and wild garlic butter can be kept for a few weeks if refrigerated and for months in frozen form. Portioning in ice cube molds is ideal so that the wild garlic aroma can be thawed and used in the right amount. For the wild garlic oil, finely chopped wild garlic leaves are placed in olive oil, so the fine garlic aroma of the wild garlic can be preserved for up to a year.

Always enjoy the wild garlic fresh

If you buy wild garlic in a pot, you should only cut off as much wild garlic as you actually use in the kitchen. After all, the wild garlic loses some of its freshness and aroma every time it is stored, even for a short time. If you collect your wild garlic in the forest, you can take it home with some water in an inflated plastic bag on warm days. The moisture protects the leaves from drying out and the air cushion of the plastic bag prevents pressure points on the leaves.

Tips & Tricks

If you still have wild garlic but little time left, you can prepare some wild garlic oil within a very short time. Simply put the whole leaves, washed and patted dry, in an empty bottle and pour on with olive oil. The oil has absorbed the fine wild garlic aroma after about a month and can thus be used to refine dishes.