Wild garlic
Quick Facts
- What it is: A wild European spring plant with garlic-scented leaves, eaten as food and used in folk medicine.
- Main uses: Spring tonic food, Blood pressure and blood fats, traditionally, Digestive complaints, Minor infections, traditionally
- Active ingredients: Alliin, Allicin, Diallyl sulfides, Ajoene, Flavonoids such as kaempferol
- Forms: Fresh leaves, Pesto and other foods, Dried leaf powder or capsules, Tincture, Fresh juice
- Time to effect: No reliable timeline; it may do nothing
- Side effects: Garlic breath, heartburn and wind are the usual complaints; allergy is rare.
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What is Wild garlic?
What is wild garlic?
Wild garlic is a wild spring plant with broad, soft green leaves. The leaves smell strongly of garlic when crushed. German speakers call it Bärlauch.
It grows in damp woods across much of Europe. People eat the leaves as a seasonal food. Folk tradition also treated it as a spring tonic.
One warning comes before anything else. Wild garlic leaves look much like lily of the valley and autumn crocus leaves. Both of those plants are very poisonous, and people have died after picking the wrong one.
Here is the honest verdict. Human trials of wild garlic are few and small. Long traditional use is real, but it is not proof that the plant works or that it is safe.
How does Wild garlic work?
How is wild garlic thought to work?
Almost all of the mechanism work comes from test tubes and animals, not people.
When you cut or chew a leaf, an enzyme meets a stored compound. Within seconds this makes allicin. Allicin then breaks down into other sulfur compounds.
In test tube studies, these sulfur compounds slow the growth of some bacteria and fungi. Whether that happens inside your body after a meal is not established.
In animal studies, wild garlic extracts have lowered blood pressure and blood fats. The doses used were often far above food amounts. No good human trial has confirmed this.
In cell studies, the same compounds act as antioxidants. That means they mop up reactive molecules in a dish. A laboratory result like this does not tell you what happens in a person.
Some lab work suggests the sulfur compounds may make blood cells less sticky. This is the basis for the bleeding cautions on this page. It is a precaution, not a proven effect.
Much of what you read online is really about common garlic, Allium sativum. The two plants share compounds, but they are not the same. Findings do not simply transfer from one to the other.
What forms does Wild garlic come in?
What forms does wild garlic come in?
Fresh leaf is by far the main form. Most people eat it as food rather than take it as a remedy.
Common food uses:
- Pesto with oil, nuts and cheese - Chopped raw into salad, quark or butter - Stirred into soup near the end of cooking
Supplement and home forms:
- Dried leaf powder, loose or in capsules - Tinctures made with alcohol - Fresh pressed juice - Oil or vinegar macerates
The flower buds and flowers are also eaten. The bulb is small and usually left in the ground. Digging it up is banned in many protected places.
Shops and markets in Germany, Austria and Switzerland sell bunched leaves each spring. Supermarket leaves avoid the picking hazard that makes foraging risky.
Where it comes from:
What did tradition claim about wild garlic?
Wild garlic has a long, well recorded place in European country life. It was a food first and a remedy second.
Archaeologists have found traces of the plant at prehistoric European settlement sites. That suggests people gathered it very early.
In rural Germany, Austria and Switzerland it was eaten fresh each spring. After a winter of stored food, the first green leaves were prized. Folk writers called it a blood cleanser and a spring cure.
Herbalists grouped it with common garlic and used it for similar complaints. Recorded uses included gut trouble, worms, chest congestion and wounds. These were folk ideas, not tested treatments.
The name ramsons is the old English one. Bear's garlic and Bärlauch come from a story that bears ate it after hibernation.
It stayed a local spring food through the twentieth century. Interest grew again with the rise of foraging, and so did poisoning reports from look-alike plants.
Who should avoid Wild garlic?
- Never eat a foraged leaf unless you are completely sure it is wild garlic; lily of the valley and autumn crocus leaves look similar and can kill you.
- Never pick leaves that do not smell of garlic when you rub them, and check every single leaf, not just the first one.
- Do not use capsules, tinctures or large amounts if you take warfarin or another anticoagulant (blood thinner), unless your doctor agrees.
- Do not use concentrated forms if you take antiplatelet drugs (medicines that stop blood cells clumping), such as aspirin or clopidogrel, without medical advice.
- Do not use supplement forms if you have a bleeding disorder such as haemophilia (a condition where blood does not clot properly).
- Avoid supplement forms for two weeks before any planned surgery, and tell your surgeon what you take.
- Do not eat it if you are allergic to onion-family plants such as garlic, onion, leek or chives.
- Do not take capsules or tinctures while pregnant or breastfeeding, as they have not been tested; normal food amounts are a different matter.
- Do not give supplement forms to children; food amounts in cooking are fine for most.
- Avoid raw leaves if you have bad reflux (acid coming up from the stomach) or a peptic ulcer (a sore in the stomach lining).
- Do not use it instead of your prescribed treatment for high blood pressure, high cholesterol or an infection.
- Avoid picking at dog-walking height near paths, and wash all foraged leaves well before eating.
When should you see a doctor?
When should you see a doctor?
Get emergency help now if you ate a foraged plant and feel unwell. Call your local emergency number. Take a sample or a photo of the plant with you.
Red flag symptoms after eating a foraged leaf:
- Vomiting, bad stomach pain or heavy diarrhoea - A slow, fast or irregular heartbeat - Burning or tingling in the mouth or throat - Confusion, blurred vision or fainting
These can start hours after the meal. Autumn crocus poisoning in particular can look mild at first and turn serious later.
See your doctor sooner rather than later if you get a rash, swelling of the lips or face, or wheeze after eating it. Also check in if you bruise or bleed more easily while taking supplement forms.
Is Wild garlic legal where you live?
In the UK and the EU, wild garlic is an ordinary food plant, sold fresh in shops and as a dried supplement. Picking is limited in many nature reserves, and UK law bans uprooting wild plants without the landowner's permission.
Evidence grades and traditional-use labels are explained in our methodology. Nothing here is medical advice.
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