# Samardala

> Samardala (Bulgarian: самардала) is *Allium siculum* subsp. *bulgaricum* — a wild
> allium of the Balkans whose leaves are cut in March, pounded one-to-one with salt,
> and dried thirty days in the shade to make a green condiment particular to the
> Stara Zagora region of Bulgaria. samardala.com is an interactive procedural
> valley in which an old man from the village of Kolena explains the herb.

## Key facts

- **Botanical name**: *Allium siculum* subsp. *bulgaricum*. Long known as
  *Nectaroscordum siculum* subsp. *bulgaricum*, and sold in horticulture as
  *Allium bulgaricum*. Family Amaryllidaceae, subgenus *Nectaroscordum*, which
  contains only two species: *A. siculum* and *A. tripedale*.
- **English names**: Bulgarian honey garlic, Sicilian honey lily, Mediterranean bells.
- **Native range**: Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Crimea. The sister
  subspecies *siculum* grows in Sicily, southern Italy and southern France. The
  plant is therefore **not endemic to Bulgaria**; the culinary practice is what
  is regionally specific.
- **Habitat**: damp shade, typically the understorey of beech and hornbeam forest.
- **Appearance**: bulb; blue-grey leaves that are triangular in cross-section and
  strongly twisted along their length; flower stems to 1.2 m carrying drooping
  bell-shaped blossoms, cream with a maroon stripe and white flaring tips, green at
  the base. Seed pods turn upright after flowering. Any cut releases a sulphurous smell.
- **Flowering**: May to early June. **Harvest**: March, leaves only.
- **Etymology**: local tradition derives the name from *samar*, the packsaddle of a
  horse, after the way the leaves stand stiffly upright.

## How it is made

1. Cut the leaves in March, before the seed. Never lift the bulb — it stays in the
   ground so the plant returns the following spring.
2. Chop and crush the leaves with salt at roughly equal weight. Traditionally
   pounded in a large mortar, now often minced. The fumes are more punishing than
   onion, so the work is done outdoors.
3. Dry in shade for 30–40 days in a well-ventilated room kept below 30 °C, stirring
   periodically. Above 30 °C it browns and the batch is spoiled.
4. Store in jars, ideally opaque. The green fades over time; the flavour does not.

## How it is used

Raw, never cooked — heat destroys its character. It is eaten on tomatoes, on fried
and boiled eggs, on potatoes, rice and bread and butter, and especially with
crumbled *sirene* (Bulgarian white brine cheese). In the Stara Zagora and Nova
Zagora regions it traditionally seasons Easter eggs and the lamb at Gergyovden. It
is also a component of the local version of *sharena sol* ("coloured salt"),
alongside summer savory, paprika and fenugreek. The mixture is already salty, so no
further salt is added.

## Places

- **Stara Zagora province, Bulgaria** — the heartland of the practice. Also the
  Sliven and Yambol regions, the Eastern Stara Planina around Kotel and Varbitsa,
  and Strandzha.
- **Kolena** — village in Stara Zagora municipality.
- **Konare** — village in Gurkovo municipality, locally called the capital of
  samardala and host to the annual Samardala Fest, which includes a ritual picking
  in the churchyard and a procession with baskets to the village square.

## Note on health claims

Bulgarian popular sources attribute various medical benefits to samardala. There is
no clinical evidence for these and they are not repeated here. The plant is listed
under Bulgaria's Medicinal Plants Act (2002).

## Pages

- [Samardala — the valley](https://samardala.com/): interactive procedural landscape
  with the herb's story told in eight parts.
- [The full account](https://samardala.com/#about): long-form history and method.