5 ways with wild garlic

A delicious introduction to the joys of wild garlic, Danny Kingston's pesto recipe couldn't be simpler. The most time-consuming part is likely tracking down a good handful of wild garlic beforehand – once you've done that, just blitz it with pine nuts, Parmesan, a bit of parsley and lemon juice and add enough olive oil to bring the whole lot together. Feel free to swap out for equivalent ingredients (walnuts work equally well) and then stir the sauce through pasta, drizzle it over potatoes or simply spread it on toast.

Having worked as Nathan Outlaw's right-hand man for many years, Pete Biggs knows a thing or two about making a good mayonnaise – and this wild garlic number has accompanied its fair share of fish and seafood dishes. He starts by making a wild garlic oil – blanching the wild garlic and blending it with rapeseed oil – then uses that to make his mayonnaise. Give your mayonnaise a good whisking early to get the emulsion working, then gradually add your oil and mix together – you should be left with a lovely verdant green sauce at the end.

Anna Hansen's wild garlic soup is one of the first recipes we turn to when we see these very special leaves appearing. She cleverly separates the stems and leaves of the wild garlic, sautéing the former then blending in the latter at the end to preserve the freshness and colour. The soup alone makes a wonderful weekday dinner or lunch, but Anna's marinated feta cheese turns it into something revelatory.

Pickling is a fantastic way of preserving ingredients, especially when they have such a short season. Wild garlic buds are worth preserving if you find any hiding among the leaves – they have a lovely floral note to them, as well as looking pretty. Pollyanna Coupland pickles the buds in sugar, cider vinegar and pink peppercorns to give them a nice sweet and sour balance. Scatter them over salads or use them as you would capers in sauces for a quintessential flavour of British springtime.