Complete with man, Clarice! Wow, those photos. Stuck in a gorgeous glow of green, and then I was at Hansel and Gretel's, and then garlic leaves (which I have never thought of using for food) and your lovely soup at the end. A fine outing indeed!
A lovely and evocative story, thank you ! I had not heard of these woods, which sound so inviting. Wild garlic in Irish, by the way, is "Gáirleóg Mhuire," or "Mary's garlic"--so much in Irish gets attributed to the Blessed Virgin. You might enjoy exploring Duchas.ie, which gives access to documents collected by the Irish Folklore Commission, whose legacy is in the National Folklore Collection at UCD. There is a lot about herbs in general, as herbal cures and medicines are integral to folklore. And you might find there stories form people who live where you now reside as well ! https://www.duchas.ie/
The Ballyseed Woods look like they might be filled with elves and fairies as well as wild garlic. It looks like such a lovely place to wander and forage, Clarice!
I’m not sure what you could do to improve your soup as I’ve never sampled this dish. I wonder if more herbs, salt and a splash of lemon might help.
The woods do make you feel like fairies and elves are watching you from every nook and cranny!
Thanks for the suggestions about the soup. (I was hoping you would respond to my question!) Next time, I will add more of all the flavor enhancers--garlic, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice, too. (I added a little of all of these, but clearly not enough!)
We were very careful to pick the leaves gently--and from many different places--so we did not disturb the roots or denude one plant of too many leaves.
We've been having an unusually long string of gorgeous sunny days here. Hopefully this continues for your sailing trip. Dingle is so beautiful in fine weather!
What a beautiful day for a walk in ancient, magical woods. Your soup looks delicious its too bad that it was so bland! I wonder if you pick the greens a little later if they would have a stronger flavor.
Ballyseedy Woods are really beautiful--whether wild garlic is growing or not. We saw all kinds of birds on our walk, as well as a squirrel. We don't see squirrels very often here, so that was special.
Actually, most people suggest that you pick wild garlic before the flowers bloom because that is when it is strongest. I guess I should use more garlic next time to increase the flavor.
We have ramps (Allium tricoccum), considered a delicacy by foodies, including us. When we find them at the stores or in the woods, we coat them with olive oil and grill, adding salt and pepper later - heaven! Have never thought about making soup with them but it sounds wonderful - and very healthy!
That's interesting, Melissa. I didn't know that Americans refer to wild garlic as "ramps"--I thought that only the British do that. In reality, I never paid much attention to it until moving to Vienna. Likewise, I have never heard of grilling them with olive oil, but it sounds delicious. I will have to try it with the next batch that we collect!
Interesting. There is a ton of wild garlic growing in the woods next to my parents house in Northumberland where I grew up. But I've never tried eating it. It smells very strong, that's for sure!
Liebe Clarice, ich kann nur raten, statt Wasser Gemüsesuppe (instant) zu verwenden und den Bärlauch zu pflücken, bevor er blüht! Und man kann natürlich ein bisschen schummeln und etwas Knoblauch zum Verfeinern verwenden! 😉 Liebe Grüße, Gabi
Danke für dein Rat, Gabi. Ich habe instant Gemüsesuppe und ein Stück Knoblauch verwendet. (Aber vielleicht nicht genug von beide?) Ich werde nächstes Jahr wieder versuchen!
Complete with man, Clarice! Wow, those photos. Stuck in a gorgeous glow of green, and then I was at Hansel and Gretel's, and then garlic leaves (which I have never thought of using for food) and your lovely soup at the end. A fine outing indeed!
Thank you, Jeanine. There is a reason that Ireland's national color is green! And the woods (what few remain) really are magical.
A lovely and evocative story, thank you ! I had not heard of these woods, which sound so inviting. Wild garlic in Irish, by the way, is "Gáirleóg Mhuire," or "Mary's garlic"--so much in Irish gets attributed to the Blessed Virgin. You might enjoy exploring Duchas.ie, which gives access to documents collected by the Irish Folklore Commission, whose legacy is in the National Folklore Collection at UCD. There is a lot about herbs in general, as herbal cures and medicines are integral to folklore. And you might find there stories form people who live where you now reside as well ! https://www.duchas.ie/
Thank you for these referrals, John. They sound really interesting, and I will definitely take a look.
The Ballyseed Woods look like they might be filled with elves and fairies as well as wild garlic. It looks like such a lovely place to wander and forage, Clarice!
I’m not sure what you could do to improve your soup as I’ve never sampled this dish. I wonder if more herbs, salt and a splash of lemon might help.
The woods do make you feel like fairies and elves are watching you from every nook and cranny!
Thanks for the suggestions about the soup. (I was hoping you would respond to my question!) Next time, I will add more of all the flavor enhancers--garlic, nutmeg, salt and lemon juice, too. (I added a little of all of these, but clearly not enough!)
This was a post I could smell while I was reading it.
We are so fortunate to have wild garlic growing in our own garden. We just made pesto last week.
How wonderful that you have it in your garden!
It makes foraging a lot easier. And all the pesto we make from it lasts the entire year.
Do you freeze the pesto? And do you have old-growth forest in your yard? My understanding is that it grows in woodlands. Is that correct?
Here in Germany, it does grow in damp woodlands, but we planted it in partial shade in our garden and it's thriving. And yes, we freeze our pesto.
Pick it gently - don’t just rip it up like some would!
We were very careful to pick the leaves gently--and from many different places--so we did not disturb the roots or denude one plant of too many leaves.
And…I’ll breathe in deeply as we sail round the Dingle in a couple of weeks - maybe the Ballyseedy breeze will reach us!
We've been having an unusually long string of gorgeous sunny days here. Hopefully this continues for your sailing trip. Dingle is so beautiful in fine weather!
Great! We have a painting above our bed of our fave wild garlic walk in Devon. Does wonders for our spirits!
Genau! Und den Bärlauch etwas früher ernten. Vielleicht verliert er, sobald er blüht, an Aroma....
What a beautiful day for a walk in ancient, magical woods. Your soup looks delicious its too bad that it was so bland! I wonder if you pick the greens a little later if they would have a stronger flavor.
Ballyseedy Woods are really beautiful--whether wild garlic is growing or not. We saw all kinds of birds on our walk, as well as a squirrel. We don't see squirrels very often here, so that was special.
Actually, most people suggest that you pick wild garlic before the flowers bloom because that is when it is strongest. I guess I should use more garlic next time to increase the flavor.
We have ramps (Allium tricoccum), considered a delicacy by foodies, including us. When we find them at the stores or in the woods, we coat them with olive oil and grill, adding salt and pepper later - heaven! Have never thought about making soup with them but it sounds wonderful - and very healthy!
That's interesting, Melissa. I didn't know that Americans refer to wild garlic as "ramps"--I thought that only the British do that. In reality, I never paid much attention to it until moving to Vienna. Likewise, I have never heard of grilling them with olive oil, but it sounds delicious. I will have to try it with the next batch that we collect!
Interesting. There is a ton of wild garlic growing in the woods next to my parents house in Northumberland where I grew up. But I've never tried eating it. It smells very strong, that's for sure!
Liebe Clarice, ich kann nur raten, statt Wasser Gemüsesuppe (instant) zu verwenden und den Bärlauch zu pflücken, bevor er blüht! Und man kann natürlich ein bisschen schummeln und etwas Knoblauch zum Verfeinern verwenden! 😉 Liebe Grüße, Gabi
Danke für dein Rat, Gabi. Ich habe instant Gemüsesuppe und ein Stück Knoblauch verwendet. (Aber vielleicht nicht genug von beide?) Ich werde nächstes Jahr wieder versuchen!