Here in Lausanne, there are plenty of indicators that winter is almost over and spring is around the corner. The days get longer as the sun dips behind the Jura after 18h, the early morning cacophony of birds competes with our alarm clocks, and the unmistakable garlicky scent in the woods means our home-cooking is about to get an extra kick of local flavor.
Living close to a forest, we have a strong association with the smell of bear garlic and the first signs of spring. We often go to our little not-so-secret spot to forage the gorgeous greens ourselves, but this year with the unpredictable weather and an article a friend sent about an unfortunate mix-up with a similar-looking plant, we decided to let the experts at Farmy gather our bear garlic from a local farmer and drop it off at our doorstep.
For those of you who haven’t heard of Farmy, it’s an online grocer founded right here in Switzerland that is passionate about providing regional and organic products to the customer. We first fell in love with the platform during the first wave of confinement–we delighted in the fact that we had to type in our postcode before shopping–and seeing several neighborhood farms & bakeries pop up as producers of our fruits, vegetables, bread, and meat made us realize how special this platform was. We know that when we order from Farmy, we are getting high-quality, organic, regional products at great prices delivered straight to our doorstep. What’s not to love about that?
Wild garlic, known here as bear garlic or ail des ours, likes to grow in shady and damp forests or woodlands and can be eaten both raw and cooked. When we saw this seasonal and local product pop up on Farmy’s website, we felt a need to commemorate the warmer months ahead and indulge ourselves with this spring delicacy. We also asked you for recipe inspiration and some ideas about how to incorporate this delicious plant into our dishes and you did not disappoint!
Here are a few recipe ideas using ail des ours–happy cooking and bon app!
Cheese, Pancetta, Bear Garlic Sourdough Sandwich
This sandwich is 100% local–sourdough bread from Zymi, a blend of two Swiss cheeses, pancetta, mushrooms, shallots & bear garlic from a local farm. And the flavor is out.of.this.world. We used this recipe as inspiration but swapped out the cheddar for Bio Grison Mountain Cheese and of course Gruyère. Do not skip out on the quick-pickled mushrooms! This adds such an amazing kick to the sandwich and we even made extra that we added to a salad the next day.
Bear Garlic Pesto or ‘Pestours’
This was perhaps the most popular reader suggestion, and for good reason too! It’s a wonderful way to use bear garlic when you have a bunch–and it’s fairly easy to prepare and versatile in its use. To find the recipe, head over to Farmy’s Instagram post found here.
Baked Feta Pasta with Bear Garlic
Doris, the extraordinarily creative and talented mind behind Cannelle Rebelle, took the viral baked feta TikTok recipe and gave it a local and seasonal touch with bear garlic. To watch her creation come to life, and for the recipe check out her Instagram post here.
Do you have any creative recipes using bear garlic? We’d love to hear them! Also, make sure to follow Farmy on Instagram to stay up to date with their seasonal additions as well as product information and recipe inspiration.