Mote

Tag: wild garlic

  • Scoping Out Scapes

    Before reading today’s post, it’s important to me to let you know that this blog has been part of a long/slow journey towards healing. Pre and post military service can be difficult, but without the support of my family & friends – I wouldn’t be who I am, thus Mote wouldn’t exist. I am so grateful beyond words to them and hope they know it. To everyone I’ve met (or yet to meet) who will never read this I just wanted to say: thank you so much for inspiring me.

    Garlic (well, really alliums as a whole) are a big part of why I decided to seriously pursue cooking. I could never seem to get enough flavor when cooking with them, which initially lead to just making large batches of herbaceous garlic stock and drinking it several nights a week to get my fix. Watching YouTube channels like Tasting History or Townsends while also in college studying history & working with archives, I couldn’t help but further appreciate it.

    This is the type of food that most people would have had present at their tables in some form or fashion – if for nothing else because it is hardy, readily available for people of all classes, and just plain tasty.

    They also have these oddly cool looking bulbs that form called scapes. According to the Cornell Cooperative Extension, Garlic scapes are the “flower stalks” of hardneck garlic plants. People eat them, but I also think in the wild they are just cool looking for their simplicity. The stalks show up fairly quickly after the leaves and fortunately in my area they grow everywhere. Below are some images I snapped from local trails:

    Singular garlic scape by a trail.
    Group of garlic scapes by a trail.

    Well I wanted to keep this post short in part because I am still working out how to make money cooking (while being employed) and also most of what I want to do is on trails or in the kitchen, not on the computer. I’ll keep bringing updates plus pictures as I go because having that dream greenhouse starts with trying to establish some small roots.


    Hopefully these wild garlic posts were a nice read and inspire you to go out & look in your own area for what is there. What sort of plants grow? Are there any animal dens you might walk past? As seasons change what new life emerges?


    Stay curious, have fun, and don’t be afraid to learning something new.

    Wild garlic in water pooled next to a fence.
    Wild garlic in water pooled next to a fence.

  • A Mote of Wild Garlic

    Is it a cat treat? No, still fun to sniff.


    Rush hour traffic. Toxic Management. Deadline Stress.

    Soup Stock?

    The one constant that kept me going when I had particularly long or bad days being treated like robot servitor from Star Wars was knowing that when the weekend came, I could cook something labor intensive. It didn’t always need to be elaborate, but some endeavors are best left for when you have time. Making a fresh stock always has that personal achievement feeling tied to it, and when actually using it makes any dish that much more special.

    Below I will take you through the process I went through to make a fresh vegetable stock while also incorporating some foraged wild garlic as a seasonal nod to Spring.

    *As a quick disclaimer, never eat anything you haven’t researched and are positive isn’t harmful – I grew up with alliums everywhere so am confident in their edibility.

    Step 1: Gathering & Cleaning Garlic

    I “located” a patch of wild garlic (it grows like a weed in my area) away from roads or anywhere that may have toxic runoff/pesticides. They were collected, thoroughly washed several times, heads separated off, any weird brown bits taken off the stems, and care was spent to save seeds for replanting.

    • I strain the dirt off through a colander.
    • There’s so much diversity in the seeds health alone.
    • Getting closer to clean…
    • Fully separated!
    • The good stuff right here – nothing better in the spring!
    • But what if they were cleaned properly…
    • Ok good!

    Step 2: Making the Stock

    I added the heads & stems to other washed/prepped vegetables, simmered them about 40 minutes, and strained well. My stocks are always different based on what is in my fridge plus the actual soup I am tailoring it towards – for this one it was very simplified with red onion (plus skins – easy nutrition), celery, bay leaves, and a little extra local garlic my spouse got me for my birthday. I don’t have specific units of measurements since cooking is somewhat intuitive, but I read once that at least half water/half veggie or more is good so I aim for that ratio.

    Step 3: Creating A Simple Soup

    With the stock now made – I prepped & added mushrooms, diced yellow onion/yellow potatoes, freshly minced ginger (YUM!), cayenne, salt, and ground pepper. I like to sweat my mushrooms in with the onions after they get going and serve them whole because they just look so cool it seems a shame to chop them.

    Step 4: Giving Back

    Remember those seeds? I washed them off really well and kept the full range of them to scatter in the area I gathered them from. Why? Because it would naturally occur if I hadn’t touched them in the first place, so it feels right to try and give something back.

    If you actually made it through my post I want to say thank you and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did making it! Life is hard enough – so it’s ok to slow down, take a breath, and remember: sometimes all you need is fresh air and a mote of garlic.