Alliums are the only edible genus within the Lily family (Liliaceae) – all those lovely daffodils, bluebells and tulips are poisonous!

Salad onions

Salad onions (Allium fistulosum) are a common culinary vegetable with a mild anti-bacterial and tonic effect on the digestion. Onion soup and onion syrup are simple but effective recipes to reduce respiratory catarrh and warm the body in the colder months, gently stimulating digestion. Slices of onion in your socks will help clear chesty coughs, while chopped onion taped onto the back of your neck rapidly clears sinus congestion (no, Jo didn’t believe it either until she tried it!). Use in salads, stir-fries, stews and casseroles.

Onion cough syrup

Thinly slice several onions. Add the a sterilised jar in layers – between each layer scatter 2 teaspoons of sugar or honey. Keep layering up until the jar is filled, seal and label. The sugar/Honey pulls the juices out of the onion and you rapidly have a cough syrup ready to use. Dose is 1 teaspoon as needed up to every hour through the day.

Chives

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum) have a delicious mild onion flavour in their green cylindrical leaves and globes of tiny purple flowers. All parts are edible in salads, omelettes, scrambled eggs or as a garnish on soups, mashed into soft cheeses or sour cream. They have a much milder medicinal action than garlic but are still useful as an everyday health maintainer, being anti-microbial and a stimulant to digestive juices and appetite.

Ramsons

Ramsons such as Allium ursinum, “wild garlic” can be used like chives in stir-fries, colcannon, soups or as a wilted green but has a stronger flavour.

Garlic

Garlic (Allium sativa) is the strongest tasting and has the strongest action in the body, being heating, drying and strongly anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-viral. As such it is useful for all respiratory infections and stomach upsets. It can also be used raw to expel threadworms. It also has a positive effect on blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood sugar balance, as well as thinning the blood sufficiently to need to be avoided for the week before surgery to prevent haemorrhage. Garlic has its strongest action when fresh, when all the sulphurous compounds are present – cooking garlic mellows its flavour and reduces its activity, while scentless garlic perles are next to useless! If you are worried about the smell of garlic on your breath, eat parsley leaves after the meal or ensure that your family and social circle eat garlic too!

Other easy ways to get fresh garlic into you is to make garlic butter, hummus or skordalia, delicious Greek dips for bread and vegetables. Here’s Jo’s recipe for skordalia:

Skordalia

7-8 garlic cloves; 1 pound (450 g) of potatoes preferably starchy like Russet; 1 cup extra virgin olive oil; red wine vinegar or lemon juice; salt

First peel the potatoes, cut in cubes and boil in water until soft. Strain the potatoes and mix with a hand mixer or a potato masher until somewhat smooth. Do not over mix as the potatoes will become gluey. Set aside to cool. Hot potatoes will absorb the oil faster which is not what you want.

In a food processor, whizz the garlic cloves with a bit of salt and a few drops of olive until it is a paste. Add ½ of the olive oil in a steady stream in the food processor and continue mixing.

Add the garlic paste to the potato and mix with a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the olive oil gradually in a steady stream or about 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until oil is absorbed. Add a bit of red wine vinegar for taste and mix well. Cover and place in the refrigerator 2-3 hours before serving and then bring to room temperature.