Wild garlic kimchi
The Return of Wild Garlic Kimchi
Every spring there is a moment when the air in the woods changes.
Before you even see it, you can smell it.
Wild garlic.
For a few short weeks each year woodland floors across Britain fill with long green leaves and the unmistakable scent of fresh garlic. It is one of the first true signs that winter is ending and the growing season has begun again.
For us it also means something else.
Wild garlic kimchi season has started.
Our first batch of the year is now ready and will be available this weekend at our markets.
Sundays Victoria Park at @victoriaparkmkt
We make as much as we can while wild garlic is in season but it is always limited. Once the leaves disappear from the woods we have to wait another year.
That fleeting quality is part of what makes it special.
From late March until around June each jar is packed with fresh wild garlic leaves fermented slowly with chilli and sea salt to create something deeply savoury, vibrant and alive. The flavour is bold with fresh garlic character and a medium to hot chilli warmth.
Like all of our kimchi it is naturally vegan.
A Wild Ingredient
Wild garlic is a bulbous perennial plant that grows in damp woodlands during spring. The leaves are long and smooth edged and grow directly from the base of the plant. Crush one between your fingers and the scent is unmistakable. Fresh green garlic.
For centuries people have gathered these leaves in spring kitchens across Europe. It is one of those ingredients that feels deeply connected to the season itself. Something that only exists for a brief moment each year.
Which is exactly why we love fermenting it.
Kimchi has always followed the rhythm of the seasons. In Korea ingredients change with the weather. Young radish greens appear in early summer. Cabbages arrive in autumn. Light water kimchi refreshes the table in warmer months.
Our wild garlic kimchi follows that same rhythm using what the land offers at that moment.
A Short Season
Because wild garlic grows for such a short time we only produce this kimchi for a few months.
We ferment as much as we can while the leaves are vibrant and fresh but when the season ends so does the kimchi.
When it is gone it will not return until next spring.
So if you see it at the market this weekend take a jar home while you can.
Spring does not last forever but fermentation lets us keep a little piece of it in the fridge.
