After Reading This You Want Me To Send You Some Pesto - Natural Medicine At It's Best


Bear's garlic (Allium ursinum)

A super old medical plant that is a true super hero. Reading is a must.

So I went down in our garden today to finally harvest the good stuff growing in front of my door.

Between March and May you find Bear's garlic all over Europe. Often in shady, moist deciduous and mixed forests, but also in our garden.

This super plant was already known as a medical plant by the ancient Teutons and Romans.

It is growing right next to the fence.



It is the green stuff and since it can be easily confused with poisonous plants like the Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis) or the Autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale) I will explain what you have to look for when going on the hunt in early spring.



So when you find green leaves you think is Bear's garlic make sure there is just one leaf stalk.



One leaf per stem is important to recognize.

The Lily of the valley is having several leaves per stem and the Autumns crocus doesn't have a stem at all.



The leaves are oval and have a parallel pattern of the veins.



The underside of Bear's garlic is always matt!

When it's shiny it's not what you should eat.



But the most important characteristic for determining Bear's garlic is the smell.

As the name already suggest it smells like garlic when you tear a leaf. If it doesn't smell it's not Bear's garlic.

You should always check twice before collecting wild plants. A mistake can cost you your life!

So I am pretty confident I found the good stuff, but why is this plant a true super hero?

I'll tell you.

Bear's garlic is a source of vital substances. They provide many vitamins and minerals that are essential for a healthy organism.

It contains an important amount of the following:

Potassium
Manganese
Phosphorus
Magnesium
Iron
Calcium
Vitamin A, B1, B6, C



It owes its power not only to its vitamins, trace elements and minerals, but also to the secondary plant substances it contains.

The most important would be Sulfur compounds such as Alliin, a sulfur-containing amino acid.

When processing the leaves the cells in the plant are destroyed. The Alliin comes into contact with the enzyme Allinase. This converts the Alliin into Allicin which is responsible for the typical garlic scent.

Allicin is best known for its germicidal and antibacterial properties.
It is considered a natural antibiotic.
It regulates high cholesterol levels and is a proven remedy for atherosclerosis, which is why it helps prevent heart attacks and strokes.
Allicin is also effective against various cancer cells.



Not enough healthy information regarding that plant? There is more!

Bear's garlic is rich in Chlorophyll!

Chlorophyll is closely related to a substance found in human blood: Hemoglobin.
Hemoglobin is the red pigment in the blood and is responsible for transporting oxygen to our cells.

So by eating Bear's garlic we support blood formation and oxygen supply in ourselves.

In addition, the green plant pigment improves wound healing and ensures a pleasant body odor.

Still more to come, Detox and Scientific studies!

The combination of vitamin C, chlorophyll, sulfur and many other secondary plant substances that we talked about above has a detoxifying effect, eliminating toxins, heavy metals and carcinogens, even radioactive radiation is said to be reduced.

Since 20 years scientists take a closer look at Bear's garlic for the long known healing effects.

For example, Diallyl disulfide, a component of the essential oil of this plant, has been shown to kill various cancer cells.
This applies to breast, lung, prostate and colon cancer as well as lymphoma and neuroblastoma.

There are also many studies for the substance Allicin that confirm its effectiveness in the fight against various cancer cells such as lung, colon and breast cancer.

It is proven to prevent high blood pressure, as well as atherosclerosis.



So I harvested this amazing plant among with other plants but today it is about the garlic.

There are some things you can do with Bear's garlic.

You can make an essence with alcohol out of it, which is recommended since ages and what I will do as well.

But today I made a Pesto out of my fresh harvested plants. It's a classic and you can vary with the ingredients.



My recipe
200g bear's garlic
250ml Olive oil
80g Walnuts
50g Grana Padano
25g Sea salt

You can use any oil, nuts, spices, cheese that you like. Also you can experiment with the amount as some might like a different texture. I usually go with the feeling, just today I measured for you.



First you wash and dry the Bear's garlic. Then you chop him in slices.



I roasted the Walnuts, but that doesn't need to be done.
You chop the nuts as well into tiny crumbles.



Same with the cheese you might wanna add.
The little piece of Grana Padano got chopped by me, just as the nuts and the garlic.
Often Parmesan cheese is recommended, but you can also make it without any cheese.


Add Sea salt and the oil of your choice.
I used Olive oil.

Blend all the ingredients with a blender until you have the consistency you like.
Add more oil if it's too dry and taste in between to make sure it is how you like it.



Once blended fill the Pesto into glasses and seal it.

To make it durable for up to 1 year leave some space in the glass and fill it up with oil. Make sure that it is covered with oil on top.



And that's about it. To make a Pesto is rather easy.

Serve it with pasta, bread, whatever you like.

Today I am going to find some Grain schnapps to make an essence. Also I will harvest more of the Bear's garlic as the season for this power plant / natural medicine is rather short.

I will make another post with how I make the essence and why within the next 2 weeks.

So stay tuned and maybe follow so you don't miss out on my awesome content. Lol, just kidding...well not so much ;).

See you all!



©bulldog-joy


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Great post! We have a very similar plant here in the States, Allium Triccocum, also known as ramps or wild leeks. They used to pop up everywhere in the spring when I was young, but decades of parking lots and over-harvesting have made them a rare find these days 🙁

Oh thank you 😊. Yah, over-harvesting becomes an issue here as well. I will talk about it a little bit in my next post.

Sorry to hear that you are missing out on that good stuff because of the issues.

The plants are similar indeed. They are like brothers lol, the European sibling and the North American one. 😄

Never know those plants before.

Read your blog makes me imagine the garden full of basil leaves because I want to make spaghetti pesto :D

Basil pesto, yummy 😋 . It's plant that grows in Europe. Thanks for reading my post and I am happy that you got something out of it 😊. So whenever you make it to Europe between March and May you are able to detect this plant now 😁

so now my day is fulfilled with my mind thinking about pesto :D

😄 Sorry, maybe you gotta make some now. I mean you can make a pesto out of any edible plant, right? An Indonesian pesto, how awesome would that be.

I loved this. I'm a huge fan of foraged food and pesto so this is a beautiful combination.

Thank you for the detail on how to correctly identify the Bear's garlic.

Lovely informative post with a great recipe.

Can I ask you to send me some please? 😁😁💚🤗

Oh thank you dear, theoretically I could send you some 😁. I think lol. I just discovered your lunar planting post, I love it. The up-cycling could be me. I just have some Chilli plants growing indoors, but I might start to experiment a little bit.

If I can't find any plants growing locally, I may take you up on that offer. 😊

Thank you for reading my post too. Let me know how your chilli plants get on. Where in the world are you? I'm in the UK.

Much love to you @bulldog-joy 🤗🤗xx

Germany. I check if food can be send to the UK. I know Ukraine was restricted and also I gotta hurry since the growing season for Bears garlic is almost over 😅

Haha aww thank you. I will go for a walk tomorrow to see if I can find some. Not sure how Brexit has affected imports. 🤔

There's always next year too. 🤗🤗💚

GODDAMN BREXIT things changed with Jan 2021. Have to fill out custom declaration now, it takes longer and it got expensive. Still not sure if food can be send period or not. Jeezzzzzz lol.

Oh that's ok. I'm determined to see if I can find some here in the UK now.

Hugs xx

Oh, good ol' Bärlauch! Great info about it here, I was always afraid to foraging it myself. Especially since I'm now in the US, but I could swear that I smelled it in prior years during bike rides. There is a specific route in the forest with a little creek, very damp - and lovely. And during a certain time of the year - it stinks - LOL - literally. I could have sworn it's Bärlauch. Of course, now I have to go there, soon, and check it out with your handy, dandy tips.
And I love, love, loooooove pesto. My go-to is arugula (Rucola) pesto - yum, yum. Can you store Bärlauch pesto really for a whole year? That's amazing!
Thanks again!!

Hey thanks :) Could very well be that you have the lil brother of Bärlauch nearby? As @paradoxtma wrote, there is Allium Triccocum growing in NE America, a sibling if you will so. Where are you at? Rucola is great too, you can make pesto out of anything pretty much lol. And you can store pesto for up too one year easily when having it covered in oil. Then off to a dark, cool spot and good to go. You can freeze it as well, then I would just leave the oil and add that when you defrost the rest. But I prefer the oil method.

Manually curated by EwkaW from the @qurator Team. Keep up the good work!

🤗 Want some Pesto? 😄

Duuuh...
With free home delivery please :D

Get the wine ready, remove the cactisone bottle and I'm drunk and will try to hug themtell Suzie a Bulldog is visiting...the Pesto is on its way 😄

Oh boy...
oh boy..

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I am ready!

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Suzi warned :D
She is not impressed...

😂 I love it. Mr.Bean is the best😂😂😂😂😂

Here Schnurrsulas first encounter with Joy. I'm glad he survived 😂

Hahaha If he survived that vicious, fluffy beast, he will survive with Suzi.

She was moving like this. Hilarious. She hated Joy though lol

@ewkaw I think I replied to my comment and not yours 😂

Great post; very detailed. I liked how you took us step by step into recognizing the plant.
Not sure if we have something similar here. I have to do some research.
That pesto looks great. Anything with nuts and olive oil in it must be good :)

Hey thanks, not sure either but I know that Bear's garlic is a European plant. In Mexico you can find Allium glandulosum but that's all I know.

But pesto is an easy thing and you can vary a lot. With cheese or without chees, anykind of oil, plant, nuts can be used. There is even no need for nuts per se. Sure it is probably not called pesto then but I am not taking it to literal. Anything with oil and a plant in it I consider pesto now 😄

Chiedo scusa agli italiani 😅

Love your Foodie post!

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Thanks, that is appreciated as I'm not the typical foodie. Have a tasty day 😊

An excellent post - useful, well made and interesting to read. I reblogged it to prepare the pesto. We also have it wild in Estonia. I will be waiting for your next post about the essence 🙂❤

Thank you for your trust 😊 . It sure is a power plant and even if you miss out on this season, it is something to look forward to next year. 😊

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I’ve never even heard of bear garlic before, but your post got me cravin it. I’m a big fan of making pesto and I’d be so stoked to try this variety!

You have a different type of garlic growing in the US. Bear's garlic is typical for Europe. But if you manage to find Ramp, ramps, ramson, wild leek, wood leek, or wild garlic is a North American species of wild onion widespread across eastern Canada and the eastern United States I'm sure you'll make sth great out of it 😁

No, I’m very aware of the difference! I wasn’t confusing the name I was simply talking about how much I wanted to try that bear garlic pesto :) I have actually found ramps and leeks. They’re a little more difficult to find in my area than one would expect, but I’m hoping to find more this spring!

Everything looks delicious!!