Summary
Police in Saxony, Germany, uncovered an illegal wild garlic harvesting ring, seizing 100 kg of bulbs worth thousands of euros.
Six suspects, including repeat offenders, were caught in two separate vehicles with bags of the protected plant.
Wild garlic, prized in cooking, can only be collected in small amounts for personal use under German law. Large-scale theft is a recurring issue.
The suspects are now under investigation for gang theft.
why is that illegal? The article says that picking it naturally can be dangerous because it looks like some poisonous plants, so why not just let them grow it normally? or better yet since apparently it’s invasive, why not a dedicated farm?
The fuck? I thought this was an onion article.
It’s pretty clearly a garlic article.
They turned to stop and inspect the vehicle and noticed a pungent smell coming from the trunk. They asked the three Russian national occupants, aged 27, 29 and 39, to open it up.
This has me imagining some type of spoof comedy about the Russian mob and their illegal wild garlic harvests going up against the Mexican cartels and their avocado racket.
Reminded me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdVziDruzyk
Big TIL moment
Context: The death of Oury Jalloh
TW: Pig brutality, death, murder | explanation
Basically: Cops in east-Germany (officially rightfully, but even that is disputed) detained a black man and chained him to the the bed. According to them: Later one cop hears a splashing sound, then they ignore two fire/smoke alarms, and when they finally look for him he’s just randomly burning alive. Of course, evidence gets faked, testimonies change depending on time and person, so nothing can be proven and they don’t get convicted. According to the pigs, he must’ve used a lighter (that later spawned in the evidence bag) to burn himself. Which has been proven to be impossible, of course.
Videos summarizing the topics (in German): https://youtube.com/watch?v=uVqtks3H148 (1/2), https://youtube.com/watch?v=7WZ4ZpwuDQw (2/2)
Wild garlic is to die for. I remember the first time I had it was on a trip to england, wentall over but down in cornwall the stuff grows like weeds, so whenever I was walking I grabbed a bunch and chomped away, 2 days later everyone woke up to the fine scent of garlic… I was barred from eating any more wild garlic for the rest if the trip
You just ate garlic straight? Never heard of that.
It’s good, plus as a person with pale skin it acts a social signal to reassure others in my presence that I am not in fact a vampire
So if it can only be collected in small amounts and it’s in such high demand why isn’t more grown?
It’s not economical to grow. It has very specific requirements in terms of wet soil and not too much sun, it has pretty low yields in terms of weight/area, compared to other crops. and since it isn’t grown commercially, you also dont have optimized farming techniques and breeds etc.
and since it’s quite common in the wild, well, if the price is too high, you’d just go and collect some yourself. Wild garlic products in supermarkets are already too expensive for me and i’d rather spend half an hour filling a bag with 2kg than buying 50g for 5 bucks.
Because then it wouldn’t be wild garlic any more, would it? 😝
Nope, wild garlic is not garlic just grown outside of gardens.
Garlic is a tuber while wild garlic is a leafy plant which just happens to smell a lot like garlic.
The wild garlic being discussed here is Allium ursinum, domesticated garlic is Allium sativum and you can totally eat the leaves in addition to the bulb. There are also lots of other edible species of garlic found across the world. They are all collectively in the garlic genus and are all different forms of garlic.
Well then it wouldnt be wild, would it
Well not always, but on Saturday when it can find a sitter, watch out
