In my article Wild Edibles – Wild Onion or Wild Garlic (Allium), I showed some pictures of the plant that my three kids & I found while we were out and about during the cooler part of the Spring.  At that time, the wild onion/garlic had not yet formed it’s most recognizable features.  When the temperature warms up a bit, Allium forms a hollow stem, atop which is set a cluster of bulblets.  On a recent trip to the undisclosed covert top secret rifle range from which I do all of my weapon spewing, I noticed a few heads of wild garlic staring at me from the Amazonian like understory.  I couldn’t resist the urge to pop a few mini-bulbs in my mouth, which gave me “nature” breath for the rest of the shoot.

The bulblets are easier to identify visually from a distance than the non-eye catching leaves of the onion, which tend to look like any old long bladed grass.  As you can see from the photographs, portions of the bulblets display a pinkish or purplish hue that stands out against the contemporary greens brandished this time of year.  The bulblets (which I believe are from the Allium canadense) are quite edible, and have the characteristic onion and/or garlic smell & taste.  The bulblets are much easier to grab a handful or three than digging up the bulbs.  Plus, doing so is less likely to kill off the plant than digging up the bulb would.

They were also beginning to set flowers, which was missing from my last article:

Small 6 Petal flowers can be white, light purple or slightly pinkish.

Again, I remind you that if the plant that you think is wild onion or wild garlic does not smell like onion or garlic, then don’t eat it because it ain’t no onion, and it ain’t no garlic, fool!

Categories: Food, Foraging, Nature

Tags: allium, bulb, bulblet, chive, edible, flower, forage, forager, garlic, garlic flower, Louisiana Edible, Louisiana wild edible, onion, onion flower, wild, wild garlic, wild onion