Field Garlic, Allium Vineale

Field Garlic, Allium Vineale, Leaves in Early Spring

Did you know that we have one of Nature's best medicines growing wildly and abundantly in North America, so much so, that it is considered a noxious weed in California, Hawaii, and Arkansas (Natural Resources Conservation Service)? That's right, Field Garlic, Allium Vineale grows all around us and it is free, tasty, and medicinal. 

Field Garlic is a member of the Allium species, which includes onions, garlic, and leeks. From May to July six petaled red/pink flowers form a domed cluster atop the 1-3' hollow green stem. The characteristic single spathe clasps the stem below the cluster of flowers. This plant is typically found in fields and roadsides (Peterson, pg 114). Bruise their leaves and you will be able to take in their deliciously pungent aroma. 

I was first introduced to this plant last year when it was flowering. We crossed paths again recently, while on a break and on a stroll along the outskirts of our office parking lot. There, not more than 3 feet from the dumpster. Now being early Spring, all that was showing were the hollow and spiraling green leaves. 

Field Garlic, Subterranean Parts

I used my trowel to dig up the plant so that I could study its anatomy further. The flexible hollow green leaves culminate into a small white bulb covered in a loose papery sheath. Little garlic cloves (about the size of a pinky fingernail), cling loosely to this fragile anchor. Further dissection reveals that the bulb is made up of many layers of translucent skins, like a typical onion. At the base of the bulb little white roots stretch in all directions in search for nutrients. 

Biting into the bulb

After removing the papery sheath around the bulb and brushing off some specks of soil, I bit into the little round bulb and boy what a garlicky taste it had! When the bulb was gone I continued munching on the chive-like stems, until the whole plant had been consumed by me. What a spectacle for an onlooker I was, squatting by a dumpster, with dirt-caked fingernails, gnawing on dirty weeds! I collected a dozen of the bulbs with their leaves so that I could use them in place of chives on a future loaded baked potato. 

The volatile oil-which produces garlic's distinctive odor-contains allicin...along with vitamins A, B, and C (Britton, pg 168). Allicin is what gives garlic it's "cancer-fighting ability" however it is produced in garlic only if it is prepared a certain way. Allicin is created in garlic when combustion between the two suspended substances-alliin and alliinase takes place. This is facilitated by crushing, chopping, or dicing and takes about ten minutes for the reaction to be complete. If you heat garlic without waiting the ten minutes, combustion does not take place, allicin is not produced, and the medicinal properties of the garlic are destroyed. However, "you can saute, bake, or fry the garlic and still get all its medicine" as long as you have allowed the combustion to take place for 10 minutes (Robinson, pg 51).   

Garlic tops the National Cancer Institute's list as a potential cancer-preventative food (Carper, pg 480). Garlic lowers blood pressure and blood cholesterol, reduces risk of clotting, acts as a decongestant, has anti-inflammatory properties, boosts immune response, lifts mood, and combats bacteria, intestinal parasites, and viruses (Carper, pg 480).

Need I say more? So long story short, this so called noxious weed, may be a pest in your garden, but it is a deliciously pungent food for your tastebuds and an amazingly wondrous pharmaceutical for your body so happy foraging!

Back home, I chopped the leaves and crushed the garlic. It took about ten minutes to nuke the potato, and lather it in butter so by the time I sprinkled on the chive substitute and garlic mush my tater was both food and medicine. 

Garlic leaves separated from the bulbs and 1 garlic clove

Garlic leaves chopped and bulbs crushed and added to my baked potato.

The field garlic was a nice substitute to chives and offered an almost identical taste.

     

Works Cited

Britton, Jade. The Herbal Healing Bible. London: Quantum, 2012. Print.

Carper, Jean. "A Diet to Save You From Cancer." Food--your Miracle Medicine: How Food Can Prevent and Cure over 100 Symptoms and Problems. New York, NY: HarperPaperbacks, 1998. 298-300. Print

Natural Resources Conservation Service. "Plants Profile for Allium Vineale (wild Garlic)." Plants Profile for Allium Vineale (wild Garlic). USDA, 2016. Web. 03 Apr. 2016.

Peterson, Lee, and Roger Tory Peterson. A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants of Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1978. Print.

Robinson, Jo. "Alliums: All Thing to All People." Eating on the Wild Side: The Missing Link to Optimum Health. New York: Jo Robinson, 2013. 51. Print.