Cleaning & Storing Wild Leeks

I’ve foraged a bunch of wild leeks, now what?

Leeks love cold water. When you get home from harvesting your leeks or your gifted some from a dear friend put them in a bath of cold-water roots and all.

Begin trimming off the root (save the roots, go plant them and say a prayer to Mother Earth and maybe they will come back for you next year). Put the trimmed leeks in a fresh bath of cold water. Slosh them around a bit and separate the bulb from the greens to use in separate applications.

When the greens are clean of dirt and debris lie them on a dry towel or sheet trying to not layer them too much. Rollup the towel or sheet. This will help to remove the moisture without bruising the greens. Now you can begin processing them or put the rolled-up bundle in a plastic bag and store in the fridge until you’re ready to use them. 

The bulbs, once separated from the greens, will store well in a container in the fridge for weeks.When storing leeks, do not let them get dried out or they will wilt and not be easy to process.