Wild garlic, known in Anishnaabe as zhigaagominzh, meaning skunk bulb, is a plant from the allium genus and closely related to garlic, onions, leeks and chives. Found abundantly across the Eastern Woodlands, including in Kitigan Zibi Anishaabeg, it has forever been an essential food and medicine.

The wild plant has been a staple ingredient for Indigenous people across Turtle Island. Chicago’s namesake comes directly from the Miami–Illinois people’s word for wild garlic, shikaakwa, which the French reinterpreted to chicagoua, thus giving the city its current name.

The flowering plant has a small edible bulb and fragrant green leaves, all of which can be used for various purposes, either cooked or raw. Growing in the underbrush of deciduous forests, it usually sprouts in the spring and early summer from mid-May to late June, growing annually.

The leaves have a fragrant garlic aroma while the bulb has a sweet onion-like flavour, with all parts of the plant used in cooking. In spring, the young shoots can be trimmed to leave the plant intact, acting as a stand-in for green onions.