Britain has several versions of wild garlic. Garlic mustard, hedge garlic or Jack-by-the-hedge is less well-known than ramsoms (see elsewhere on this site) . . .
This member of the cabbage family, is abundant and easily recognised. Its soft nettle-shaped leaves start to become really edible in early autumn and it remains very edible throughout the winter, although it becomes somewhat coarser in taste and texture after it flowers in spring. One of my former foray guests, Malcolm Cragg, alerted me to its early-spring abundance and he recommends adding it to egg mayonnaise, but that shouldn’t stop one experimenting. It has a mild garlic flavour which historically was used in conjunction with fish and lamb, so try steaming a fillet of a delicately-flavoured white fish on a bed of this wild herb, or stuff a gutted trout with a pulverised mix of cream cheese and garlic mustard before wrapping in foil and baking in the oven for 20 minutes.
