In some ways, Wild Garlic Vinegar couldnt be simpler to make, but you neets lots of patience.

Wild Garlic Vinegar is really nothing more than Cider Vinegar infused with Wild Garlic leaves. 

Pick the Wild Garlic and wash the leaves wery thoroughly in cold water.

Because we buy our Cider Vinegar in 25 ltr drums we save a couple each year and pour a measured quantity of vinegar into each. Then the washed leaves are added. Now this is where we have a bit of a snag - the neck of the drums is only about 4cm wide so the garlic has to be twisted into a wadge and then forced through the small hole. This as a bit of a tedious process which, on this occasion, was mitigated by watching a rather fine second half of the Six Nations rugby match between England and Scotland. If rugby is unavialable other forms of diversion are permissable without spoiling the flavour...

Then you wait - for up to six weeks. Overnight you will see the Wild Garlic Leaved settle down into the vinegar and then over the following weeks the two ingredients blend till all you are left with is delicious vinegar and the most horribly pungent glob of pickled Wild Garlic Leaves. The challenge is to seperate the two.

We start by pouring the infused vinegar through two layers of muslin and a seive to extract as much solid matter as possible. Then we filter the vinegar through paper coffee filters which is another tedious task. The papers will last for two or three refills before they clog up, so buy a good supply.

The end result will be a lovely yellow vinegar which packs a mighty punch of springtime. Crack open a bottle and you can almost smell the Wild Garlic on a warm spring day. 

As for the residue in the container - my best advice is to cut it open, commit the sludge to the garden waste bin and then lose the pungent plastic to the recycling skip as fast as possible.