If you want to enjoy that fresh wild garlic flavor all year long, freezing it is definitely the way to go! It’s super versatile for later use, and you can even prep a batch of wild garlic butter to keep in the freezer for a quick flavor boost.
Harvesting Wild Garlic
You can start foraging for wild garlic (also known as ramps or bear’s garlic) around late March. The sweet spot for picking is when the leaves are fully developed but still nice and tender. The wild garlic harvest season actually lasts several weeks, and if you use different parts of the plant, you can stretch it out for months.
Just a quick tip: only pick the leaves that look healthy. If they look stunted or have been nibbled on by garden critters, it’s best to leave those behind.
Prepping Your Leaves
Before you toss them in the freezer, you want those leaves squeaky clean. Give them a good wash, but here’s the secret: they need to be bone dry before freezing. Also, try to handle them gently—bruising the leaves too much can cause them to lose that signature punchy flavor.
If you’re just doing a small batch, patting them dry with a kitchen towel works great. For larger harvests, a salad spinner is your best friend to get rid of excess moisture. Just lay them out for a few minutes afterward, and they’ll be ready to go.
How to Freeze Wild Garlic
To keep the flavor as fresh as possible, I recommend freezing the leaves whole rather than chopping them first. Every time you cut a leaf, it starts to oxidize, which can dull the taste. Plus, it’s actually super easy to slice them up while they’re still frozen later on!
Bundle the leaves together and slide them into a freezer bag that’s big enough so you don’t have to fold or crease them. If you have a vacuum sealer, even better! Vacuum sealing helps preserve the flavor and saves a ton of space in your freezer.
Using Your Frozen Stash
The best part? You don’t even need to thaw it. In fact, wild garlic is often easier to work with when it’s still frozen. You can pull a few leaves out, slice them up immediately, and toss them straight into a simmering soup.
Keep in mind that once it’s been frozen, wild garlic is best used in cooked dishes. It loses its crispness, so it’s not great for fresh salads. However, it makes a fantastic pesto! Using frozen leaves for pesto actually helps lock in that vibrant flavor. Plus, making your pesto fresh as needed means you don’t have to worry about a big jar going bad in the fridge.
Just don’t leave it in the freezer forever. If you start seeing ice crystals on the leaves (which happens if the freezer door stays open too long and things start to thaw), it’s probably past its prime. At that point, it starts to taste more like hay than garlic, and nobody wants that!
Freezing Wild Garlic Butter
Another delicious way to preserve your harvest is by making a compound butter. Finely chop your clean, dry wild garlic. Make sure to take your butter out of the fridge ahead of time so it’s soft and easy to mix.
Quickly fold the chopped greens into the butter (you can use a mixer on a low setting if you prefer). To freeze, you can spoon the mixture into ice cube trays. Or, for a fancy touch, use a piping bag to make little butter rosettes on a plate lined with parchment paper.
Pop the plate in the freezer until the rosettes are solid, then transfer them into a freezer bag or container. These are absolutely perfect for summer grilling—just drop a frozen butter rosette onto a hot steak or grilled veggies and let it melt into deliciousness!
