Wild Garlic in Tomato
Wild garlic — also called ramson or bear’s garlic — is the first foraged green of spring, with a sharp garlic-onion punch. Its window is short, so cooks put the young leaves up for later, and this tomato version is one of the easiest: a spicy paste of ajika and oil acts as both flavor base and natural preservative. If ajika is new to you, it’s a Georgian hot paste of chili, garlic, and spices; a spoonful of harissa or any garlicky chili paste stands in well.
Frying the ajika and tomato in boiling oil opens up their sweet-hot side and coats the ground greens, softening their bite. You control the heat by how much ajika you add — from a gentle tingle to a real burn. One thing you can’t skip: the oil must be genuinely hot, because that scalding dressing is what pasteurizes the greens right in the jar.
- Pick wild garlic before it flowers, or the leaves turn coarse and bitter.
- Keep it cold under a plastic (nylon) lid — this isn’t an airtight canned preserve, so no room-temperature storage.
- Use it straight as a seasoning for meat or potatoes, stirred into soup, or spread on bread.
Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 288 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Grind the wild garlic through a meat grinder.
Put the ajika and tomato into the boiling oil and heat through well.
Pour this hot dressing over the ground wild garlic and stir.
Divide among jars, cover with a nylon lid, and store in a cold place.
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