From Forest to Table: The Rise of Wild Garlic ‘Faux-Rage’ in Home Cooking
- Britain is going wild for wild garlic, with Ocado reporting a notable 63% YoY* increase in sales of the viral ingredient
- Shoppers are also on the hunt for wild garlic-flavoured products such as Spring Wild Garlic Mixed Nuts, which saw a 96% uplift in sales MoM
- Interest in other seasonal ingredients that can be found growing wild in the UK is also on the rise, with searches for samphire up 82% MoM
Fresh wild garlic is now readily available to home cooks around the country and can be ordered at the click of a button, thanks to online supermarket Ocado. As a result, the fragrant leaves, which were once a niche ingredient for hardcore foodies and restaurants, have hit the mainstream in both media and cooking. This is evidenced in Ocado wild garlic sales figures, which are up a hefty 63% compared to the same time last year, and 101% since 2022, confirming its place as a staple in the modern kitchen.
The foraging trend is also taking root on social media, with TikTok’s ‘for you’ pages inundated with recipes using forageable ingredients – videos across TikTok using ‘#foraging’ have reached up to 1.6B views overall.
With searches on Ocado.com jumping 78% MoM, it’s clearly the flavour of the moment and it’s not only the leaves themselves which are proving popular – sales of other wild garlic-flavoured products showing notable MoM increases, include Mr Filbert’s Spring Wild Garlic Mixed Nuts (+96%), Real Olive Co. Organic Wild Garlic & Basil Pitted Olives (+48%) and Purely Plantain Wild Garlic Chips (+43%).
But the ‘faux-raging’ doesn’t stop there – interest in other native, wild ingredients is also on the rise, with searches for samphire on Ocado.com up 82% MoM.
Natoora British Wild Garlic Leaves are available now on Ocado.com for £2.47 (down from £3.30, until 30/04/24) as part of the Ocado Seasonal Stars promotion.
ENDS
Full data set:
- Searches for samphire up 81.5% MoM
- Sales of wild garlic up 63.06% YoY
- Sales of Natoora british wild garlic leaves up 352.46% MoM
- Sales Spring Mr Filbert’s Wild Garlic Mixed Nuts up 96.09% MoM
- Sales of Real Olive Co. Organic Wild Garlic & Basil Pitted Olives up 44.25% MoM
- Sales of Purely Plantain Chips Wild Garlic up 43.11% MoM