Foraged wild garlic and fermented lemon pesto

I recently wrote a post on the versatility of lacto-fermented citrus fruit.  This focussed particularly on the various means to preserve lemons, lime and orange.  In recent weeks I have been broadening my knowledge of foraging, especially looking at those plants that have beneficial impacts on the gut microbiome and I have become a huge fan of foraged wild garlic pesto.  Indeed, I have started posting these on my Instagram feed. 

Some of the plants that we have built into our diet over the last few weeks include foraged wild garlic, dandelion and dock leaves.  Last night we had our first salad where the green leafy veg was entirely sourced through foraging; along with red onion, radish and camelia petals (sourced from our garden).  This will be covered in another post, but in summary, the reasons why I have focused on these plants are as follows:

Wild Garlic

Wild garlic is widely known for its antibacterial, antibiotic and possibly antiviral properties, and contains vitamins A and C, calcium, iron, phosphorus, sodium and copper. Studies have also shown that it may help reduce blood pressure.  Thereby reducing the risk of stroke and heart disease.  On top of that the plants contain sulphur compounds which act as a prebiotic, an important food for gut friendly bacteria.

Dandelion

The leaves are used to stimulate the appetite and help digestion. Older leaves are more bitter.  This bitterness stimulates digestive juices and helps improve overall digestion.  They are a good source of iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, Vitamins A, C and B complex.

Dock leaves

Docks have mild laxative effects that improve digestion by encouraging regular bowel emptying.  The leaves contain a compound promoting the release of water in the intestines, encouraging the release of waste from the bowels.

Given my recent posting, I thought I’d share one of my most favourite recipes for combining both elements of lacto-fermentation and foraged food which is my wild garlic and lemon pesto pasta.

Wild Garlic Pesto Pasta

For ingredients you will need:

1. Approx 150g wild garlic leaves (use the white flowers for garnish)
2. 50g parmesan
3. 50g toasted pine nuts
4. 200g virgin olive oil (my favourite is Il Casolare – a cold pressed virgin olive oil.  It can be pricey so try to stock up when on a deal in Tesco)
5. 4 fermented lemon

Recipe

Step 1

Rinse the wild garlic leaves and toast the pine nuts in a deep cast frying pan.  I prefer the pine nuts to be well toasted, but you may prefer to just leave for a few minutes for a milder taste.  Scrape out the fleshy parts of the lemons and keep 1 for the next step.  You can either discard the other three, or press to add the juice to a salad dressing.

Step 2

Blend the foraged wild garlic, parmesan, fermented lemon pulp and pine nuts and oil.  The fermented lemon is salty, so until you get used to using them, under-salt and season to taste.  Leave some of the pine nuts behind to sprinkle on top.

Step 3

Add the pesto to any pasta dish as you would a basil pesto.  Finely dice the lemon rinds and sprinkle on top of the pasta and pesto along with the remaining pine nuts and grate fresh parmesan to finish off. For those following a keto / low carb diet, ‘swoodles’ (spiralised swede) make a great replacement for the pasta.

Take care not to cook the pesto; otherwise you will lose some of the gut friendly bacteria from the fermented fruit in it.

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