Wild Onions/Garlic and Spiderwort growing along the road near Ocala Florida. Photo by Green Deane
Allium canadense: The Stinking Rose
Your nose will definitely help you confirm that you have found wild onions, Allium canadense, AL-ee-um kan-uh-DEN-see. Also called Wild Garlic and Meadow Garlic by the USDA, walking through a patch raises a familiar aroma which brings me to a foraging maxim:
Wild onions/garlic, set bulblets on top
If a plant looks like an onion and smells like an onion you can eat it. If a plant looks like a garlic and smells like a garlic you can eat it. If you do not smell a garlic or an onion odor but you have the right look beware you might have a similar-looking toxic plant. For example, we have a native lily here in Florida that looks like an onion but has no aroma. It is toxic.
All parts of this particular Wild Onion/Garlic are edible, the underground bulbs, the long, thin leaves, the blossoms, and the bulblets on top. The bulblets are small cloves the plant sets where it blossoms. Harvesting them is a little easier than digging for bulbs but those are easy to find also. They’re usually about four inches underground. The bulblets are on the tippy top of the plant. It’s called both an onion and garlic because while it is a wild onion it has a very strong garlic aroma.
Onions and garlic belong to the Lily family. The most common wild one is the Allium canadense. It has flattened leaves and hollow stems. On top there can be bulblets with pinkish white flowers or bulblets with sprouted green tails. When it sets an underground bulbs they will be no bigger than pearl onions. (See recipes below the I.T.E.M. panel.) They were clearly on the Native American menu though our local natives didn’t refer to them much.
Ramps have wide leaves
It is often said the city of Chicago’s name is from an Indian phrase that means “where the wild onions grow.” That is quite inaccurate. Chicago is actually a French mistransliteration of the Menomini phrase Sikaakwa which literally means “striped skunk.” We would say ‘the striped skunk place.” The skunks were there because Allium tricoccum (Ramps) were growing there. Skunks know good food when they smell it (and are bright pets. Very common where I grew up.) The nearby Des Plains River was called the “Striped Skunk River.” Incidentally because of man’s intervention that river now flows backwards from it original direction.
While northern Indians used the Allium species extensively there are few records of southeastern Indians using them, though various southern tribes had names for the onion. Some of the tribes considered onions not edible. Ramps, A. tricoccum, (try-KOK-um) photo upper right, are also in the onion family, and very common in Appalachia. Farther north they are called “wild leeks.” Unlike onions and garlic, ramps have wide leaves but are used the same way.
Allium was the Latin name for the onion. An alternative view is that it is based on the Celtic word “all” meaning pungent. “Alla” in Celtic means feiry. Canadense means of Canada, but refers to north North America. Tricoccum means three seeds. Roman’s called garlic the “stinking rose.”
Allium canadense in large amounts can be toxic to cattle. Lesser amounts can flavor the milk as can salty fodder near the ocean.
Green Deane’s “Itemized” Plant Profile: Wild Onion
IDENTIFICATION: Allium canadense: Grass like basal leaves, small six-petaled flowers, odor of onion or garlic, stems round, older stems hollow. Underground bulbs look like small white onions. Ramps, however, have two or three broad, smooth, light green, onion-scented leaves. Also see another article on a European import, the dreaded Garlic Mustard.
TIME OF YEAR: Depends where you live. Ramps in spring, onions through the summer, bulbs in fall. Locally we see bulblets in April then into the spring.
ENVIRONMENT: Like most plants onions like rich soil and sun but can grow in poor soil with adequate water. Leeks like rich leaf-losing woodlands and can grow in dappled shade. Locally all of the Wild Onions I’ve seen grow in damp places, or, places where run off gathers before seeping in.
METHOD OF PREPARATION: The entire plant is edible raw or cooked, in salads, seasoning, green, soup base, pickled. You can pickle them using red bay leaves, peppergrass seeds, and some vinegar
Recipes adapted from “Wild Greens and Salads” by Christopher Nyerges
Onion Soup On The Trail
Two cups onion leaves and bulbs
Two cups water or milk (or from powdered milk)
1/4 cup chia seeds (optional) or grass seed
four bottom end tips of cattails
A Jerusalem artichoke
Two table spoons acorn flour (or other flour)
1.4 cup water
Put chopped onions in 1/4 water and boil for five minutes. Add the rest of the liquid, cattail and Jerusalem artichoke. Cook at low temperature. Do NOT boil. When artichoke is almost done add flour and chia seeds. Mix. Salt and pepper to taste. Serves three.
Camp Salad
One cup onion leaves and bulbs
1/2 cup Poor Man’s Pepper Grass or Mustard leaves
One cup chickweed or other mild green
Two diced tomatoes
Juice of one lemon
Tablespoon of oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Collect onions, dice, add other green items torn into small bits, added tomatoes and other ingredients, toss.
I would like to know where I might purchase the seed or seedling for wild onions or wild garlic, would you have any idea how I might obtain this plant or weed? as some call it. Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance,
Sandra Stanford
B&T Seeds usually has everything. Or I can send you the email address of a fellow in North Florida who has some growing on his property now.
Please send me information also on how I can purchase wild onions? Grew up eating them. Unable to find them for sale in San Antonio.
I live in OK and they grow numerous in my front yard. My sister and I make salads out of dandelions and onions with some soy sauce, it’s pretty good
No need to purchase when u can find them everywhere in early Spring, near or in woods. Good Luck. If it does not smell like onion and has NO odor it is not onion or garlic! Could be poisonous.
Ok, so I live in Gilmer County GA , which is mountain country and there are tons of wild onions all over the place. They look like an onion and they smell like an onion. They are an almost bluish green compared to the rest of the grass and I have them all over my yard. I have tried them twice in small quantities. The first time I chopped a few of the round green leaves (if you call them leaves or blades or something else idk) and put them in jalepeno pepper poopers and my stomach got a bit upset. I figured it might be the onions, but jalepenos are something that can upset a stomach on their own. Fast forward to today. Added a small amount to tonkotsu ramen to my ramen and it not only upset my stomach, but made me slighty nauseous and made my head feel kinda funny. After about 30 minutes the effects seem to have wore down some, but nevertheless it’s made me not want to try them again. Are there any species of wild onions that could have this effect? They have a tell tell onion smell.
*poppers, lol
If you want I can mail you some. I got TONS growing in front and back lol
Sorry,I kind of wardered off, but I’m Still interested and would appreciate the email address,I’m still looking for wild onions and garlic,thanks a lot for your reply.
We have wild garlic\onion seeds. Contact us if ur still wanting some..
If you want I can mail you some. I got TONS growing in front and back lol..no charge🤗
Please send email address,sorry for such a late reply.
I live in North Florida and would also love the contact info of the fellow who has some growing!
Look for them in early Spring in woodlands and roadsides everywhere and in lawns. In lawns they are darker than the lawn and very noticeable.
Hi
I seen on the net you were looking for ramps/wild onion bulbs available in may for eating or transplanting, Sell them by the lb there is usually 20 iss p lb depending on size,
Mike
I am from N. Florida , but now live in Homosassa . Would like to know where I can get Wild Onion plants
Well…they will be in or near damp places starting in March or so into April.
I live in Chiefland. These wild garlic plants grow wild here. I deliver mail and I see them growing alongside the road. Somebody gave me some. So I planted them in my yard.
I would think they would grow in Homosassa! Just start looking for them now. They are easy to find when they have the little bulblets on top.
Homosassa means place where wild peppers grow.
American Meadows carries Allium Canadense seeds, along with other native plants and seed. High Country Gardens (now owned by American Meadows) has native seed also, and emphasizes native and xeric plant species as seed or plant. HCG was owned/run by a plantsman, and I highly recommend it. American Meadows has since started a shift towards the same.
I have wild onions and garlic I can send anywhere in the US
Hey brother! Can you hook me up with your contact info and purchasing/shipping info? If I can get my growing stuff going I want to plant wild leeks/onions
email: mason AT craigtalley.com
If you still are able to send wild onion, please do contact me. Thank you in advance.
I would like some wild onions plz.
I can supply a Korean 3-year-old bulb
Are these the same as Egyptian or Top Onions ? I grow these since I like their looks and easy to grow.
Egyptian onions are a related species.
Egyptian Onions however and huge and tall compared to the wild ones.
Thanks for the information and recipe. Very informative.
I’ve really come to love the wild alliums. Several varieties pop up either in my yard or the surrounding area and I have taken to gathering them up whenever I find them. I particularly like including the wild garlic in making kimchi because the bulbs retain their crunch nicely and their flavor really lends itself to the whole pickling.
How do you make Kimchi, Nathanial?
I don’t know what type of kimchi you have been making. But my favorite one I eat alone like a snack. It is known as a spring variety because that is when the ramps are coming up. It only takes a couple of days to make and a good movie too watch. I wish I could give you the ratios and all of the ingredients.
Cucumber cut into 2 1/2-3″ wedges (the long Japanese style)
Fresh ground red pepper, fresh minced garlic, sesame seed oil
Fresh raw ramps cut into 1/8″ diagonal strip. Good luck
I’m rather confused. I thought wild onion and wild garlic were two different plants. I thought wild garlic was the one with long, thin, hallow leaves (like chive) and wild onion had long, thin, flat, grass-like leaves. Am I wrong?
Also, I’m curious what “onion grass” is. I thought it was in fact wild garlic.
I hope Green Deane can help here.
They vary a lot… some solid stems, some round leaves, some flat leaves. The common name isn’t too important as long as they are an Allium.
Thanks. But I thought it is Allium canadense (onion) versus and Allium vineale (garlic). But I guess colloquially, anything goes. Are you saying that Allium canadense is commonly called wild onion, wild garlic, and onion grass? Can Allium canadense be hollow and chive-like, or is it always flat? What I have in my backyard is hollow and chive-like.
The common names are just that, and whether it’s common name is onion or garlic is rather irrelevant. A. canadense usually had a solid main stem and flat leaves. Other Alliums are different.
Christopher, that’s the same way the wild onion/garlic is around my house. I’ve always called them wild onions, but then a friend of mine said that it was wild garlic, and it greatly confused me.
Wild Allium covers both bases.
Wild Onions are like chives, they grow in clumps and are hard to distinguish from each other. Wild garlic on the other hand, is a single hollow stem, growing to 2ft with a round bulblet of seeds on top in early summer. Ramps are totally different though from the onion family but have 3 flat leaves , not hollow and are strongest scent. All can be used the same ways. SO, anything in a clump is wild onion or chives, single is garlic and 3 flat stems, Ramp. Hope this clears it all up.
Liz, my wild garlic grows in clumps, and if left to grow, develops quite nice bulbs. I usually pull/ dig a lot of it and steam it with my asparagus. I have canned it too. Also, dried the leaves of the older ones and then ground it up to season my garlic bread and veggies. To develop nice bulbs, I do have to thin it to give it room. Otherwise I get small bulbs in the fall when I dig. I am out side Erie, PA
Christopher, U are correct! Onion grass grows in a clump like chives! So closely related u can use the same way.
We have these onions growing wild in every part of Texas that Ive been in. I’ve wondered about drying them and using them as a spice maybe?
We have plant that has oblong leaves and smells like sassafras when crushed,is it the real thing? the leaves are not like the ones on your video.
Really enjoy your work Thanks
The leaves can vary.
In our lawn the chive type grow wild each Spring. They get mowed off and the smell is great.
Might they be transplanted into the garden for use in cooking? Will they transplant well or do they then need certain care to survive.
I’ve thought of digging clumps of sod to place into one area of the garden. But then the chive would have grass to compete with. Is there a simple method for moving the chive without the grass? I’m sure it would be easier to obtain seed, but where’s the challenge with that.
Just curious.
Yes, u CAN dig them up in the clumps an separate grass from the chive or wild onion clump. Cut back the top a little after planting and water well unless it rains.
Today on one of the cooking shows they garnished the baked chicken with wild garlic flowers. We know it is a weed, but they talked about it like it was some rare flower. You are giving us a good education.
I have what I believe are wild onions growing crazy in my yard. The tops of the plant are curled into “pig tails” above a small white bulb; and the bulb in the ground in small, white, but segmented like the cloves in a garlic. I have never seen a flower per se. The whole plant smells like a pretty strong onion. Are we talking about the edible “weed” wild onion?
This is EXACTLY what I have! I thought they were some sort of garlic but have been afraid to try eating them. They are completely volunteer, as far as I can tell, because they grow amid some other kind of plant. I’ve just been pulling them up the last several years because they are persistent.
A guy named NativeSurvival on YouTube does a good job explaining your problem on onions, I’ve been watching his edible videos and he has one about identifying wild onions that match your plant.
I’m trying to identify a 4 foot tall round stalk with a three inch round blossom at the end of the stalk that opened into tiny lavender buds. When dug it had about 4 cloves with no husk. The cloves smell like garlic but I can’t find anything online that shows garlic with no husk. Any ideas what this is?
None… you can post a picture on the Green Deane Forum on the UFO page, unidentified flowering objects.
In B.C. canada, We have a Pink/lavender flowered onion called as a common name “nodding onion”. It has seeds much like chives, small black, cornered seeds. I collected a small head of seeds from a plant I found on a coastal shore, and have used them in my garden as dry area plants.They start with a tiny thin tube then as they mature,the leaves are tall,thin and flat,After 2 years, they grow like multiplier onions After 4 years, I separate them ,and share . I use them as the center flower in hanging baskets. then save
the seed. they really are lovely. They also taste good, and garlicky.they grow larger,and nicer to cook with when they are in rich soil, but will grow in fairly dry rocky areas. I saw the seed for sale in a wild plane website.
WILD GARLIC FLOWERS, are actually the top of the garlic plant with the eatable bulb being on the bottom growing int he ground. U can pull it up and eat it. Or pickle.
Hi,
Joyce, Lerner, and Diane,
I have the same thing growring around my house in W. Pa. I’m not certain of their proper name, and just call them wild garlic.
First off, Yes!, they are definitely edible, actually I think their pretty great! There are alot of them growing on the sides of the road and in the forest around here, but Ive found that the bulbs tend to grow a lil larger if they are cultivated in good soil and fertilized n watered regularly. I have grown onions and garlic in my gardens since I was a child and when I first discovered and tried eating this wild variety about 10 or so years ago I was pleasantly surprised by their taste and decided to transplant some to my garden. They grew very well and since then have grown in their small plot of my garden ever since. I just allow the bulblets to break off and fall to the geound after coming to maturity and they grow the next year. Then, when their about 6″ tall I seperate them n space them about 2 1/2″ apart. Each fall I harvest the ones grown that season and keep them in a cool dry darl place n use them throught the winter. They have a strong and pungent garlic flavor and are great for cooking, especially with pork. I have never tried to eat any other part of the plant than the bulbs but i would suppose the entire plant is edible. Hope this helps.
I love finding this website. I have always loved foraging and learning about plants. I did not know that there ever was a site like this. THANK YOU for what you are doing.
Do you know if Ramps grow in Arkansas? I would love to find some. I do have wild onion, garlic and garlic chives. I am also interested in all recipes on wild edibles.
I live in southwest Arkansas, near the Oklahoma border.
I would love to have some ramps, if anyone has any. I would be glad tp pay for them.
Basically, anything with FLAT leaves is wild ramp or wild leak which are basically the same. Hollow leaves is always onion or garlic chives or grass. TALL hollow leaves are a single wild garlic plant with pink or purple flowers on top in late spring, bulb is on the bottom and should be dug up after flowering. U can transplant all of these. Keep well watered in Spring.
I live in northeast Oklahoma. Around here a wild onion has flat blades that look more or less like grass. Wild garlic has round spiky leaves. They often grow in much the same kind of places, although not really mixing. We consider them very different plants. If you confuse the two and bring wild garlic to a wild onion and egg breakfast the Cherokee ladies will have your head and throw you and your garlic out! It is really easy to tell them apart even from a distance due to the erect stance of the garlic. The difference is greater later in the season when they are too rank to gather anyway.
Yes Steve, “Wild Onion Dinners” are common at least in Northeast Oklahoma with the Cherokees. Good times and great food!
Why do you explain how to speak LAtin with an English/American accent? That is not how the Latin words are pronounced PROPERLY… At least not according to my LAtin teacher, and I’m sure she was old enough to have been there during Roman times.
Otherwise, awesome site. Weeds are yummy.
1) Because Latin is dead. 2) There are no native speakers. 3) There are at least four different ways to say Dead Latin: Roman, Catholic, English and American. 4) There is no consensus on the plant pronunciation with different high authorities giving conflicting pronunciations. 5) Some pronunciation instruction is better than none, and 6) Most of Dead Latin is bastardized Greek and Etruscan. As I am Greek I prefer the original GREEK pronunciation to mangled Dead Latin, such as oh-PUNT-tee-ah for oh-PUN-see-ah, or thee-oh-SCORE-ree-ah over the most horrible dye-ah-SCORE-ree-ha. It was a man’s name, for heaven sakes: thee-oh-score-REE-theses. How Dead Latin gets dye-ah-SCORE-ree-ah out of that is a disgrace to language.
Just came across your site today and am so excited to explore more. I was looking for info on the Redbuds which I just learned you can eat. I love it! Last year, we removed our grass lawn and replaced it with native ferns. Suddenly all sorts of other things I hadn’t noticed before started popping up including what looked like and smelled like chives. When pulled up there was a small bulb – this was in the Fall, we had made the change during summer and I hadn’t noticed them with grass. Wondering, sounds like this is Wild Onion? You mentioned a difference between bulbs and bulblets? I am just wondering as it’s Spring if I let them grow will they get larger or it that their size all the time. Thanks!
If it is a wild onion or garlic the bulb will smell strongly of said. If not plant it in a pot and see what happens.
Will you be doing desert plants and rain forest/jungle series?
That’s an interesting question. I’ll have to ponder it.
I found these UFOs in our new mexico yard.Wild onions/ wild garlic? errrr umm where can I submit a photo?
Dug a few of these up wild to transplant to home. Any tips to assure the grow and spread? Where do you split bulb apart to grow more like regular garlic. The few I picked have all had the bulbs chewed off the top.
Thanks much-Ryan
If you collected them locally now, just put them where you want them to grow. But, if you are going to wait until winter to sow them, store in a dry place and leave them outside a couple of weeks in the winter before planting.
I don’t bother with the bulbs or bulblets of wild onions. Instead, I prefer to snip off the tender green shoots that come up in spring and use them like chives. Hence, I call them spring onions.
Thanks for the information I really never thought about that I’ll definitely try that
I have discovered wild onion/garlic on a roadside. They have not yet flowered and the bulblets are very strong tasting.
Is it best to harvest the plants now or after they bloom?
If I do harvest some, how can I ensure that a new crop will grow next year?
Thanks! JW
What kind of road side? And are they up or down from the road. They can be harvested any time. I save the cloves and plant them as needed but that could differ depending where you live.
I live in Oklahoma & 1/16 native American. Wild onions have been a spring time staple all my life. We have sting time wild onion hunts & have wild onion & eggs supper everywhere. The is a big difference between wild onions & wild garlic in apperence & flavor & where they grow! Wild onions are flat blades & grow in shaded, damp areas sometimes along creeks & under lots of leaves. NOT in full sunshine! Wild chives is the hollow blade, dark green clumps that grow in the middle of your front yard in full sun. We like this also. We chop wild chives & put on baked potatoes & use in soups & stews. But the wild onions & scrambled eggs are our favorite.
In the spring time, the older women in our family take the younger girls out & teach them how to “pick”. Your not allowed to pick until you k.ow the difference between a wild onion & crow poisen, which has a small white flower on it later on, but until then, they look & smell the same.
This is a part of our life that has been handed down through the generations. I hope this has been helpful.
We preserve the ancient Hickorado Native American tradition of “The Grazing of the Mechaka”. Mechaka is the native name for the delicious wild onion & garlic that has been harvested throughout the Snake River Valley, our ancestral home. We gather by the thousands each year in May to harvest tons of this wild delicacy. Some is eaten with Trout & Eggs. Some is stewed in O’Possum & Snail stew. The wild harvest is also pickled, dried or frozen. Our favorite dish is “Mularkiki”, a simmered stew of dandelion, cottonwood buds, bumble bee larvae, cattail, Brushbush flowers & beaver fat. It it served over wild rice & parched hickory nut meat. this dish is what offered survival for our tribe during the terrible drought years of 1866 & 1871.
Love your story have some wild onions in my garden would love to know more about how to eat them
I’m back to pick some more nits.
First, Allium is Latin for Garlic, not onion. And concerning a possible Celtic origin, in 1883 John Cameron (Gaelic names of plants) wrote, “Allium — The derivation of this word is said to be from all (Celtic), hot, burning. There is no such word. The only word that resembles it in sound, and with that signification, is sgallta, burned, scalded.”
Also, and also of little consequence, American wild onions and Egyptian onions are related only to the extent that they both belong to the genus Allium. Molecular studies show three “evolutionary lines” within the genus. Chives, onions, welsh onions, garlic chives, garlic, leeks, Egyptian onions are all in one line; Allium canadense belongs to a different line, (and ramps are part of the remaing line).
Sources often vary in details.
Just to confuse things, over here in the UK we have Allium Ursinum, which we know as Wild Garlic or Ramsons. Very similar to A. Tricoccum. I gather it young just before the flowers develop and preserve it by lacto-fermentation with sea salt. It keeps throughout the remainder of the year, until the next crop is ready for gathering!
There is a wild onion variety that grows in the creek bottoms (Okmulgee County, Okla.) from late November until early spring.
This “winter” onion is different in appearance and taste when compared to spring varieties.
Local Mvskoke tribal people also make distinction between spring varieties — there are at least three, but creek bottom onions are the most popular.
I live in Okmulgee county. we have been trying to figure out what a real wild onion looks like. is it flat or round? can u put a picture on so I can see what they look like?
Where you live it can go either way. AND… there are some toxic plants that closely resemble the onion family in your area of the word… called Crow Poison if I remember correctly. Nothoscordum bivalve looks like wild garlic et cetera but smells like grass. Your wild garlic/onion must look like garlic and or onion and smell like garlic or an oinon.
I have what I hope are wild onions in my yard. The leaf part is like a curled tube and seems hollow. I have noticed an onions smell in previous seasons but it has been very wet the past coupe of days so I am not getting any smell. I saw that the lack of odor is a sign that it may be a toxic look a-like but that the look-a-likes are very bitter. I chewed on of the very small bulbs and tasted hardly any flavor. They just tasted earthy and watery.The smell is sort of sweet like fresh mown grass. I am located in central oklahoma.
If the leaves are hollow and round, and start low on the stalk as opposed to coming up from the bulb, you have “wild” garlic, which is an early, invasive import from Europe where it has been eaten since pre-history. It has a distinct garlic, not onion, smell and flavor. The only problem with it is, that it is invasive. I like it, although it is a little fiddly to work with as it is small. If the leaves are flat then it would be native wild onion, and taste and smell like onion. If the plant in question does not distinctly smell like either garlic or onion, then it would be neither… and there are toxic look-alikes. Wild garlic is a darker green, wild onion as discussed here is usually lighter green. Across the continent, there are many native wild onion varieties, and within those the local specimens can vary by where they grow. No matter what they are called, the “wild” garlic and the various truly wild onions are not the same, although they are both in the allium family. Long live free allium.. 🙂
There is a creek near my house in Glen Rose, Texas. Do you know if ramps, garlic, and onions grow here, and of any other aquatic plants in the area?
I don’t know that, but Foraging Texas might.
I have hundreds upon hundreds of these in my yard. i will taste tomorrow, Thank you, LaPorte TX.
in s.e. ok., lots of wild onions. a friend of mine sells them by the gallon bag. the plant has a very distinctive dark green color and a broken blade has a very onion smell. the season is pretty much over here, the wild onions have gone to seed. before that, the stems get tough. the young onions are tender and are delicious with eggs.
They grow wild all over my area. (South oklahoma. ) I harvested a huge mess today, about 80 plants. Without even trying.
Love the site and also your bit of Chicago lore. However, I think you are thinking of the Chicago River running backwards, not the Des Plaines?
I have been searching the web, and can not find any information on eating the seeds of alliums–any variety. (though we have regular onions in our garden right now) Are they edible? Are they safe? I guess no one wants to let their onions go to seed, but the seeds could be useful. (And I did find out “black onion seeds” are not related to onions.)
Thanks!
I live in S. India in the State of Kerala. I landed on your post about Purslane and I am happy to find your blog and website. Very interesting and informative. I am trying to identify the edible plants in our state so that we can substitute them in our diet. Thank you Deane.
I have wild onion (smells and tastes like Garlic) flowers look like those of onion. My question is: Is it normal for the bulbs to have a bitterness than becomes mild after blanching?
Thanks
I grew up with these wonderful smells and tastes in PA, but am now transplanted here in CO and cannot find them. Anyone willing to help, please send to Box holder, PO Box 711, Alamosa, CO 81101.
Hi I can send you some wild chives if you’re interested
Wild Chives?! ?
I have quite some of these plants growing in my little garden covered in mulch, at my condo, they remind me of what a chive plant would look like if I snipped the leaves, they definitely smell like onion. Would these be little chive plants?
Hi Dave, we have wild garlic like crazy. I’d be happy to ship some to you if interested.
I would love some if you wouldn’t mind shipping me some. Please email me for mailing address. Many blessings.
Would it be possible for me to receive some wild garlic also?
Thanks
Hi Sarah and Susan! I would adore if you were able to ship me some wild chives and wild garlic! We have very limited income and I have been foraging whatever I can for vegetables to eat!!! I appreciate if you could email me and I can give you my address!!!
Thank you, Annie
Hi Dave I’m a native to colorado wild onions grow like a weed in fields and dry areas here wild garlic is more particular and likes to grow next to slow flowing streams if u like garlic scapes they are ready to pick off of wild garlic in late june to early july and the buldlis r ready by August
I have both chives and wild onions growing in my front yard. I can send you some bulbs if you wish.
I found wild onion/garlic here in Superior CO while working in the field one day 🙂
Have found wild onions at 10,000′ above Williams Reservoir near Pagosa Springs while hiking.
I think I have both wild onion and wild garlic in my yard ? When I pull upmthe garlic in the fall when the “seeds” in the pods are a red/pink color that if left turn brown and at the bottom are usually 2 small garlic cloves. They grow really tall. What I’m pretty sure is wild onion looks more like green onion from the store and when I pulled one up a few days ago it had a small little “baby” onion growing on the side of it. Is that wild onion or what I read that people call wild onion/garlic ? Also if I dig them up and separate them and transplant will they grow OK or even get a bit bigger ? Same with the garlic ?
We saw wild ramp heads sold at the farmers market. Are these really edible, if so what do you use them for and how? We have millions in the woods behind us.
Ramps can be eaten raw, but as a West Virginia native I can tell you how my family prepares them.
We have made Ramp Burgers by chopping the entire ramp in semi-fine pieces, adding them to your ground beef, add salt and pepper to taste and mix well. Shape your patties and fry them as you normally would and enjoy.
Second and my favorite is to make Fried Potatoes with Ramps. Slice your potatoes and chop your ramps. Heat oil (some people use bacon grease) in a frying pan, add your ingredients. Salt and pepper to taste. Fry until your potatoes are cooked through and enjoy.
A little warning, not everyone likes the smell of cooking ramps so you may want to make sure you have a way to “air out” your home during and afterwards. The taste makes it all worth it!
Can these be grown in Colorado? If so where can I buy them?
I have wild onions, grown organically. When do you want them. Regards, Dr. Haddox
I have a ton of wild onion in my yard I’m in Alabama…….if u want some
Will you give me some wiild onion
BackWoods Billy’s Foraging Impouriom…Small, family owned business based in Ia..has seeds,spores, fungus,flowers and other things… looking for something wild,,give them a try… Email ur ?’s to mistydoc72@gmail.com..
Yes send some please to 3302 Chipco still Tampa FL 33605.
Just don’t try smoking them in Colorado. They will fry your brain! Stick with weed!
I have ate them for years. There good with branch lettice with grease pored over them. Also with poke salad. The poke weed is poison until boiled in 2 to 3 changes of water. But I guess that’s why I love living in the Application Mtns.
Where are the Application Mts. located?
I think it was supposed to be “Appalachian Mountains.”
LOL, so mean…
application mountains are right by the coffee bay.
Hi,
I live in southern Ontario in Norfolk County; about as far south as you can get in Canada. We have a 10 acre farm near Simcoe Ontario and I’m interested in growing ramps for personal consumption. Do you know of any on-line resources available to help me? I would also like to find resources for foraging in Ontario as most of the sites I find on-line deal with the US.
Thanks,
Griff
Did you see Wayn’s offer, anove?
I have a small patch of well-established wild garlic which is in full bulb-let formation. Willing to share them as I harvest and dry them a bit. Send email with address. In western Michigan.
Wanye, I’d love to connect. I inherited this house and had a ton of garlic in the yard. This place was vacant for 7 yrs before me. Turns out many neighbors and even around the village have it growing in NE Ohio. I am hoping you can fill me in. Hoping you are still linked to this blog. Please email me. pytsroka@gmail.com
i found some growing near the pond in our neighborhood.
I’m sure someone could send you some if need be.
I eat them from time to time, especially if I need to pull them out of other plantings. It’s my favorite onion for onion soup, because they’re less pungent than other onions, although that could be because the soil here doesn’t have much sulphur content.
When I looked up the safety of eating them about 25 years ago, I saw some research that indicated habitual consumption could deplete the body’s iodine, so I wouldn’t make them my go-to onion.
About 15 years ago, I developed an intolerance of alliums, which has been annoying and inconvenient. I cope by taking a few Beano tablets, moderating my intake, and skipping a couple or more days between indulging. This allium species causes me the least distress, especially when thoroughly cooked, as in onion soup. Garlic, A. sativum, especially raw, is the worst offender.
Here in Maine we also have Allium burdickii the “white ramp” that is somewhat smaller with slightly narrower leaves. It’s harder to find that A. tricoccum but found in similar places. Some prefer the flavor of A. burdickii but it’s hair splitting. I’m growing a patch of each in my yard.
Everyone shows pictures of wild onion and garlic already harvested and pulled up by the roots or growing with a stand of other plants. I need to know what they look like growing! And how to distinguish from their poison lily cousin!
I only cut paths in my huge yard now elderly push mower widow and I’m so glad I have so many edible plants others kill as weeds very sad. Deer bees birds so many blessings. Have so many of these can I save them by pickling?
What does “bottom end tips of cattails” mean? Are we talking here about flower tops, or something underwater? If it is the flowering structure, is it the top (pointing to the sky, or the bottom nearest the ground.) I assume potatoes and carrots could be used in a pinch instead of artichokes and/or cattails. I have been fighting these wild onions/garlic for years, since I accidently got them while collecting some wild flowers. Now it turns out I can just eat them.
The rhizomes have pointy teeth growing out of them.
When I bought my home 4 years ago I found that the back yard had lots of wild onions. I was making a perennial garden, so I was digging them up as I went. They evidently were deeper in the ground than I thought, because there have been more every year since I moved here. Not wanting to waste something that God gave to me, this year, I decided to dig them up, wash them, and to use them for cooking. There is only one problem. They are VERY high in salt. Does anyone know why they have this strong salty taste? I eat a very low salt diet and when I began eating them, I couldn’t stand using them, because they were so salty. I had to throw them away.
We pulled a bunch of what I think is wild onion. It looks and smells like onion but the stems are solid and not hollow. Is this an edible plant?
Got a picture to GreenDeane@gmail.com?
Are alliums still apart of the lily family or are they more officially in the amaryllis family. Also are there plants which provide an onion/garlic flavor and smell that are not alliums and don’t look like alliums?
If anyone want I can mail you some. I got TONS growing in front and back lol..no charge🤗
Hooo.karez@gmail.com
In grade school (during the 40’s) I attended a 1-room country school located in Traverse County, Minnesota near the western side of the state not far from N. Dakota and S. Dakota. In the spring of one year, we kids discovered what was called wild onions in the school yard. At recess time we were out there eating these delicious things and after we went back into the school house our breath stunk up the school house so badly the teacher couldn’t stand it. We thought it was comical and she then thought that we did it just to annoy her!