Bärlauch is everywhere in spring. The forest floor becomes an aromatic green carpet, filling the air with a familiar garlic-like scent…and just about every food you can image is enhanced with this lovely herb. Here are ten of our favorite ways to add a boost to some spring recipes.

One of spring’s defining moments in Switzerland is the emergence of bärlauch. Take a casual walk through most forested areas, and you will almost immediately encounter a beautiful green carpet…and a nose full of the unmistakable scent of garlic. You may even notice a few people wandering through this bed of greens pulling up fistfuls of the stuff…and wondering what exactly they may be doing with it.

Well…these foragers know how valuable a bit of bärlauch can be in the kitchen – and, it’s free for the taking.

Bärlauch also appears frequently in just about everything in restaurants, grocery stores and butchers. So, if you’re really not up for the experience of gathering, then simply hunt around and you won’t be far away from something with bärlauch in it.

The experience of bärlauch is at its best, however, when you do a bit of your own foraging...but, be aware – there are a few dangers you should familiarize yourself with before heading out into the wild. Bärlauch is often confused with two similar-looking plants, which are not so nice to your system if you mistakenly consume them. You can have a look at the pictures in the Tages-Anzeiger article from 2008 to get an idea of the similarities, or read a bit more about bärlauch dangers in our website.       More...