Making Pesto From Wild Greens

A recipe to put all that wild garlic to good use!

Noushi patiently waiting while I foraged for wild garlic in my local woods this week

In April last year, I wrote about my love for wild garlic (Allium ursinum) and said that when I make wild garlic pesto I just chuck all the ingredients in a blender and taste as I go, rather than following an exact recipe. However, I realise now that not everyone is confident enough in the kitchen to do this (let alone forage for the ingredients), and last month I worked with Rosanna, aka @thebromleyforager, at an event where I saw this play out in action…

Rosanna has received funding from the National Lottery Community Fund through Mottingham Big Local Refocused to run a series of foraging walks and workshops for residents of Mottingham, an area of south east London, not far from where I used to live. Being a part of Mottingham Wild has been such a lovely experience, mostly because the same group of people tend to turn up to each event, meaning we’ve been able to watch people’s confidence in nature grow. At the last event, one young person was reeling off all manner of impressive nature facts, confidently identifying wild plants and sharing with the rest of the group. “Everything I know, I learnt at these events,” they proudly replied when complimented on their knowledge.

Foraging for (highly invasive) three-cornered leek in a woodland in Mottingham

On that particular day, our task was to forage for three-cornered leek (Allium triquetrum), an invasive plant that is colonising a local woodland. Once we’d picked our bounty of greens, we went into a classroom at a local school where we spoke a bit more about three-cornered leek and I showed the group some wild garlic I’d picked near my house, along with some common lookalikes. Rosanna then took the group through how to make pesto, doing a demonstration with a blender at the front and giving everybody a taste. Each attendee then got the chance to make their own pesto using a pestle and mortar with ingredients and recipes we’d provided. Most people at the event told us they’d never made pesto before, and certainly not with wild ingredients. One participant wooped and cheered so loudly at how proud they were of their first ever batch of pesto that it made me jump! What a joy it has been to see, in real time, people connect with nature in a new way.

Fun for all the family - pesto-making with Mottingham Wild this March

I credit Rosanna with growing my own confidence around wild food too. Had I not been invited by a friend (shout out to Andrew) on one of her foraging walks, I may never have ventured into the wonderful world of foraging myself. Sometimes you just need someone to show you how.

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To help you build your own confidence, here’s Rosanna’s wild pesto recipe, illustrated by me. This is the recipe we handed out at the Mottingham Wild event…

By the way, there’s all sorts of other things you can use for pesto, and you don’t have to stick to just one wild green ingredient either - you could experiment with a mixture of wild garlic, three-cornered leek, garlic mustard, dandelion, wintercress, chickweed... the list goes on. If you’ve got some salad leaves (foraged, shop bought or otherwise) going a bit soggy in the back of your fridge, don’t throw them away - use this recipe to make zero-waste pesto! I tend to freeze my pesto in ice cube trays and then store it in freezer bags so I can make a big batch to last several months. Pesto pasta and garlic bread on tap? Hell yeah!

If you want to learn how to identify and forage for wild garlic I recommend watching this video (though I recommend picking one leaf from several plants rather than lopping off a whole plant).

Leftover wild garlic pesto from a batch I recently made

Important notice: Never eat something unless you’re 100% sure you can identify it correctly. Do your research and make sure it’s safe to eat, and in what quantities. In the UK, we have common law to forage the four Fs (fruit, flowers, fungi and foliage) for personal consumption, but never uproot anything without permission and only take what you need if it’s growing in abundance - leave enough for wildlife to thrive!

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About Rosanna, who provided the wild pesto recipe

Rosanna Ottewell is a foraging enthusiast with over 40 years of foraging experience. In 2018, following the end of a work contract and much pestering by friends and family, she began leading foraging tours and she is now one of the founders of Wild South London, hosting regular events south of the river. Rosanna says: “The thing that gives me the greatest satisfaction is sharing my knowledge and realising the positive impact that teaching people about foraging can have on their lives”.

Rosanna has a passion for creating recipes and cocktails using foraged wild ingredients and you can see some of her creations on her Instagram: @thebromleyforager

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Events coming up

I’m hosting a nature journaling walk and workshop with Wild South London on Sunday 12th May in Beckenham Place Park. Book your free tickets here.

London National Park City are running a series of events at their visitors centre (109 Fleet Street) in collaboration with The National Trust to celebrate Blossom Week. All the events are listed on the community page (you may have to join to view the events, but I highly recommend it if you want to find out about more events in the capital).

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