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SWEDISH FOOD

Recipe: How to make Swedish wild garlic soup

This recipe for wild garlic soup from food writer John Duxbury is the perfect way to make use of an underrated Swedish spring crop.

Published: 21 April 2017 06:59 CEST
Updated: 25 April 2022 16:39 CEST

Recipe: How to make Swedish wild garlic soup

Swedish wild garlic soup. Photo: John Duxbury/Swedish Food

In the spring ramslök (wild garlic) can be found growing in forests in southern Sweden. Wild garlic soup has become rather fashionable lately, although it has never been quite as popular as nässelsoppa (nettle soup) in Sweden, probably because it is much easier to find nettles. However, wild garlic is much nicer to pick so if you have any wild garlic growing near you it is worth picking some to make this delicious soup.

READ MORE: The three tasty treats that make spring in Sweden a forager’s dream

Wild garlic normally only grows in woodland and looks rather like Lily of the Valley. Take care to ensue that when you rub the leaves they smell of garlic because Lily of the Valley is poisonous.

The leaves are at their best between late April and May, preferably before it comes into flower. The flowers are very attractive, but by the time wild garlic comes into flower the leaves are getting too big and they can be a little bitter.

Unlike with cultivated garlic, only the leaves are picked, as the bulbs are far too small to be of any use in cooking. The leaves can be picked by hand or you can cut them with a pair of scissors. Obviously, don’t pick too many in one area so the plants will come again next year.

Wild garlic pesto is probably more popular than soup, but I make both and use the pesto to make a cream and for a garnish.

Summary

Serves: 4-6
Level: Easy
Preparation: 5 minutes
Cooking: 25 minutes
TOTAL: 30 minutes

Tips

• Wild garlic is quite bulky so you will need about a third of a carried bag of wild garlic. Around 50 grams of wild garlic is sufficient for the pesto recipe below.

• There is normally no need to wash wild garlic, simply pick over the leaves to remove any moss, grass or other leaves, although you may want to give it a quick rinse if you picked it near a popular dog walking spot!

• The potato is added as a thickener. If the soup is still too thin, mix a tablespoon of flour with some water and then add it to the soup and bring to the boil before adding the soured cream.

• Serve the soup with a good rye bread or some nice crusty white bread.

Ingredients

15 g (1 tbsp) butter

1 medium onion, about 120 g

2 medium potatoes, about 200 g

2 celery sticks

1 litre (4 cups) good quality vegetable stock

200 g (8 cups) wild garlic leaves

170 ml (¾ cup) gräddfil or soured cream

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

grated nutmeg to taste

lemon juice to taste, optional

Garnish for 4 bowls

6-8 tbsp wild garlic cream, see below

2-3 tsp wild garlic pesto, see below

finely chopped wild garlic leaves

grated nutmeg, optional

Method

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the onions. Fry gently until softened, without colouring.

2. Add the potatoes, celery and stock. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

3. Add the wild garlic and continue to cook for a minute of two until it has all wilted.

4. Pour into a blender and blitz for about 5 minutes until fairly smooth.

5. Return to the saucepan and add the soured cream, salt and pepper, grated nutmeg (I used about a quarter of a nutmeg) and, if desired, lemon juice.

6. Heat without boiling, taste and adjust the seasoning again.

7. Pour into warmed soup bowls and garnish with a little wild garlic pesto, wild garlic cream, chopped wild garlic leaves and, if desired, some grated nutmeg.

You can either start by making the wild garlic pesto or you can make this whilst the potatoes are cooking, as in step 2 above. (You could substitute shallots or onion for the leek, pine nuts or almonds instead of walnuts, olive oil instead of rapeseed oil and any similar hard cheese to Parmesan. I simply fancied a change from ordinary pesto!)

50 g (2 cups) wild garlic leaves
25 g (2 tbsp) leek, roughly sliced
25 g (3 tbsp) walnuts
75 g (5 tbsp) rapeseed oil
25 g (4 tbsp) Parmesan cheese, finely grated
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp caster (superfine) sugar
1 tbsp extra rapeseed oil

Pick over the leaves and then place them in a food processor with the leek or shallot, walnuts or pine nuts and the rapeseed or olive oil. Blitz for a minute until finely mixed and then fold in the grated cheese, salt and sugar. Pour into a sterilised jar, pressing down well to remove any air bubbles. Pour over another tablespoon of oil to ensure the surface is covered with oil. Keep in the fridge until required.

When required, stir in the oil and use as necessary. Before returning the jar to a fridge, add some more oil to ensure that the surface is covered. The pesto is superb on bread, stirred into pasta or even added to a bread dough.

Wild garlic cream

For 4 people: mix 6 tablespoons of crème fraîche with 2 tablespoons of wild garlic pesto.

Recipe courtesy of John Duxbury, editor and founder of Swedish Food.

How to grow your own fruits and vegetables in Sweden

Know your growing zone

Sweden is split into eight different growing zones, known as växtzoner in Swedish, with one being the mildest zone in the far south of the country and eight being the harshest, in the far north.

The easiest way to figure out which zone you live in is to search your address on a digital growing zone chart like this one from the Swedish Garden Association.

There are two “bonus” zones too, which you’re unlikely to see on plant labels: zone zero, which refers to extra mild conditions in zone one, like a sheltered south-facing garden or the climate inside an unheated greenhouse, and the fjällzon or zone nine, which is found in mountain regions.

Lots of fruit trees can handle snow, for example, but not all of them will survive the winters in harsher, colder zones.

“Apple trees or fruit trees will survive snow,” British gardener and cider maker John Taylor, known for presenting Swedish gardening show Trädgårdstider (Garden Times), told The Local.

“You can grow all kinds of apples, pears, plums, cherries, we can grow edible quince in southern Sweden, so there’s a bunch of fruit trees which will survive, but it depends what rootstock they’re on – that’s called grundstam in Swedish,” he explained.

“There’s one rootstock called B9 that survives down to minus 40, because it’s from Russia, then there’s another called M106, and that probably doesn’t want to live in the depths of Norrland.”

Buy plants local to you

An easy way to make sure the plant you’re planning on buying is going to survive in your zone is by sourcing it from a local plant nursery or garden centre, as they won’t sell plants that can’t handle the local climate.

“There’s a nursery in the north of Sweden and Finland called Blomkvists, they sell lots of fruit varieties which will survive up there,” Taylor said. “You can grow pretty much anything you want up there, just as we can [in Skåne, southern Sweden], but it will be different varieties that taste different and will survive the frost.”

You won’t be able to grow Mediterranean fruits like lemons or oranges in Sweden unless you bring them inside during the winter, although you should be able to grow peaches or nectarines in most of the country.

“The further up in the country you go, the further north you are or the further away from the coast, the harsher the climate becomes, so you might need to have them on a south-facing wall or in a greenhouse,” Taylor said.

Think outside the box

Although the growing season in Sweden may be shorter than it is further south, there are still a number of crops from warmer climates that do surprisingly well.

“People don’t really grow cucumbers outside here, I don’t think they realise that you can actually grow them outside,” Taylor said. “Tomatoes, too. You don’t need a greenhouse, you just stick them in the ground, they’re basically a weed – you’ll get so many you won’t know what to do with them.”

Sweetcorn, for example, performs well in a Swedish climate, Taylor said, although Swedes more often grow it as a feed crop for pigs.

You can also test things by trying to build a microclimate so you can grow things that are one or even two growing zones away from yours. Usually this is done by providing shelter from the wind and the weather using fences, hedges or by planting near buildings, as well as providing protection during the winter.

And if you’re pushed for space, look into companion planting, where you can grow multiple plants which complement each other in the same space.

One example of this is the “three sisters”: corn, climbing beans (or peas), and squash. The corn provides a support for the beans or peas, which anchor the corn in high winds while fixing nitrogen in the soil, while the squash’s large leaves provide shade for the soil, preventing it from drying out.

Don’t be put off just because you don’t have any outside space

Thinking outside the box applies to balconies too.

“If you’re in a built-up area, you will get reflected light from other buildings, so even if you’re on an east-facing balcony, you should be able to grow a lot of stuff. North is a bit more tricky, but east and west are probably better than south as you’re not getting hammered by the sun all day,” Taylor said.

You should be able to grow things like tomatoes, cucumbers and flowers, but it’s important to get hold of good soil and replenish it each year, so your plants have enough nutrients.

“Anybody with a balcony can grow pretty much the same that you can in a garden, you just have to get the soil up there and you always have to fertilise, the soil becomes nutrient deficient after one season.”

“But if you’re prepared to get the soil up on your balcony you can grow anything, even fruit trees. They will be smaller and stunted, and won’t give as much fruit – I’ve done it myself – so don’t see it as an obstacle, see it as a possibility.”

Kale and tomatoes growing on a balcony. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

Take inspiration from Swedish growers

Thinking outside the box doesn’t mean that you should completely ignore what all your Swedish neighbours are doing. If you’re not sure what to plant in your garden or what fruit and veg you should try to grow, take a look at what other people who live near you are growing.

You might also come across some crops you’ve never tried before which work well in a Swedish climate, like Alpine strawberries (smultron), honeyberries (blåbärstry), wild garlic (ramslök) or sea buckthorn (havtorn).

This doesn’t just apply to varieties, but also where you plant them in your garden. Some crops need full sun, some work best in shade, and others, like asparagus, can grow tall and cast a shadow over your garden.

“You want a south-facing location for all fruit, and berries – check out what your neighbours are doing,” Taylor said.

If you don’t want tall plants to cast a shadow over other crops, see if you can plant them at the northernmost edge of your garden, while making sure that sun and soil conditions are still optimal. Blueberries, for example, need acidic soil to thrive, meaning you will probably need to amend your soil if planting in the ground, or even plant them in containers.

Think about what you want to do with your harvest

This may seem obvious, but it’s important to plant what you like to eat, too. If you hate the aniseedy, licorice-y taste of fennel, why bother growing it?

You should also choose the variety of crop based on what you’re going to use it for. Do you want to make pickles with your cucumbers, or are you going to eat them on salads? Do you want cherry tomatoes for snacking on, or big beef tomatoes for making sauces?

“Think ‘what am I going to do with my harvest’,” Taylor said. “Am I going to juice it? Am I going to preserve it? Am I going to make cider with it, for example?”

Apples, for example, can range from sweet eating apples to tart cooking apples, so make sure you do your research before you commit to buying an apple tree. Most varieties exist in English-speaking countries, so you should be able to search the name of the variety online and find some information in a language you understand, if you don’t speak Swedish.

“Patience is a virtue,” he added. “A lot of fruit trees are going to take two or three years, or even more, to give a harvest. So you have to have patience.”

Learn to deal with the Swedish weather

Many areas of Sweden along the coast or in the south of the country can get windy, which you’ll have to learn to deal with.

“How to deal with the wind? You can’t,” Taylor said. “We cannot affect this, we are powerless.”

“What you have to do is plant them in areas where there’s less wind, usually behind large buildings.”

Some plants simply won’t survive the wind, so either you plant them close to buildings, protect them, or accept that you’re restricted in what you can grow.

Make sure to provide supports for crops which will grow tall, like sunflowers, peas, beans and sweetcorn, and tie these down well or bury them deep in the ground, so summer storms can’t blow them away.

Listen to the full interview with John Taylor in The Local’s Sweden in Focus Extra podcast for Membership+ subscribers. Out on Wednesday, May 8th.

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