When you think about garlic, what do you picture? When I use garlic to cook, normally it comes in a bulb with several cloves. But in the Azores, the wild garlic that they eat is a flowering plant!
The wild garlic is a small, white flower that has a bell shape. It looks like any other sort of wildflower, but when you smell the inside of the flower, it has a strong, spicy odor.
We saw these flowers all over the island by the road and along the trails on our hikes. I did not think much of them until we saw the same little buds on our dinner plate! They tasted sharp and fresh just like the normal pressed garlic that we eat in the U.S.
Wild garlic is a native plant in the Azores! This is quite rare because many plants and animals were brought by explorers that came to the islands from Europe. The wild garlic plants grow mostly in grassy areas, often near the forest or along the lakes.
