Wild garlic oil with the Thermomix® captures the season in 10 seconds at speed 8. We blend the wild garlic with oil and salt, leave it to infuse for 30 minutes, then strain it off. The oil keeps for months; the wild garlic goes on the compost.
Wild garlic oil is the simplest way to preserve wild garlic. The leaves release their flavour into the oil and are then removed. What remains is a flavoured oil you can use right through until the next wild garlic season.
Wild Garlic Oil with the Thermomix®
Ingredients 0 / 3 ✓
- 80 g wild garlic
- 400 g sunflower oil or olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions 0 / 2
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1
Blend the oil.
Wash the wild garlic, remove the stalks and place in the mixing bowl. Add the oil and salt and blend for 10 seconds / speed 8. Scrape down with the spatula and leave to infuse for 30 minutes.
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2
Bottle.
Strain through a sieve into a sterilised bottle and store sealed in the fridge.
Tip: This oil has a mild garlic flavour and works well for dressing salads and seasoning vegetables. You can use it as a marinade base for grilling meat or serve it as a dip with fresh baguette.
Video
Nutrition per serving
Why we strain after 30 minutes
Wild garlic releases its flavour into the oil within the first 30 minutes. Leaving it longer offers no advantage but does shorten the shelf life. Wild garlic contains moisture, and moisture in oil leads to mould.
That is why we strain through a fine sieve after exactly 30 minutes. The oil stays clear and the wild garlic pieces are removed. If you bottle the pieces along with the oil you get a more attractive result visually, but the shelf life drops to a maximum of 2 to 3 weeks in the fridge.
Sunflower oil or olive oil
We use sunflower oil because it is neutral and does not compete with the wild garlic. Olive oil works just as well but adds a second layer of flavour. That can work nicely if you are using the oil in Mediterranean dishes. For classic wild garlic applications such as dips, salads or pasta, sunflower oil is the better choice.
Rapeseed oil also works but has a slight flavour of its own. When in doubt, use the oil you normally reach for when making salad dressing.
Remove the stalks or the oil turns bitter
The thick stalks of wild garlic leaves are fibrous and taste bitter. Remove them completely before blending. The tender leaves are all that remain; wash them and pat them dry.
A little residual moisture on the leaves is not a problem with a 30-minute infusion time, as the water drains away during straining. The only thing to avoid is adding leaves that are dripping wet to the mixing bowl.
Salt as a flavour carrier
The half teaspoon of salt does not make the oil taste salty; it lifts the wild garlic flavour. Without salt the oil tastes flat. The salt dissolves into the oil during blending and stays in even after straining.
If you use the oil in a dish that needs seasoning anyway, simply use a little less salt elsewhere.
Sterilising the bottle with boiling water
The bottle must be clean, otherwise the oil will turn within a few weeks. We rinse the bottle with boiling water, leave it to dry completely, and only then fill it.
The boiling water kills bacteria. The important thing is that the bottle is completely dry afterwards. Residual moisture inside the bottle leads to mould, even if the oil itself is dry.
Shelf life with proper storage
Strained and stored in a sterilised bottle, the wild garlic oil keeps for several months to up to a year. Store it in a cool, dark place, ideally in the fridge. Light and warmth cause the oil to turn rancid.
After two weeks in the fridge the oil will have developed its full flavour. You can use it before that, but the taste becomes more intense over time.
What to use wild garlic oil for
We use the oil for salads, dips and as a finishing drizzle over pasta. A favourite of ours: spaghetti with wild garlic oil, salt and pepper, ready in 10 minutes.
For the barbecue we marinate meat in the oil or drizzle it over grilled vegetables. Herb pull-apart bread gets a layer of wild garlic oil instead of herb butter. It also works as a dipping oil alongside baguette.
Goes well with: pasta, Bruschetta and Ciabatta.
Also worth trying: puff pastry with the Thermomix®.
If you want to do more with wild garlic: wild garlic paste, wild garlic salt or wild garlic soup.
More wild garlic recipes: wild garlic rolls, wild garlic cream, wild garlic potato dumplings, potato and wild garlic mash, wild garlic bread dumplings.
