To recognize the ramson, they grow in low, round forms, the heart shaped leaves having a slight raggedness to the edge, almost like violets. When they flower, the flowers are white and have a fluffiness to them, not a large flower or a globe as actual garlic does. When you pull the roots out of the ground, there should be a straight part for down to an inch underground and then the small rhizomes form a thick umbrella that can be as big as the greens are around on the surface.
As the common name implies, the ramson is edible. Gather the plant when you have gloves on or else you will be itchy before too long. Hold the plant by the base of the leaves and pull straight up. Cut off the greens and place them in the compost as it is not recommended at this time to eat them. Wash the root thoroughly and I suggest cleaning off the smaller stringy roots. The larger roots can be used like carrots or other tubers and smaller ones can be chopped or pureed to be incorporated into other things. They do have a slight garlicky smell, but do not seem to have a strong flavor, at least to me.
Ramson has also been called buckram. This is where the fabric acutally gets it’s name because the starch from the root was used to stiffen corce fabrics, like for theatre sets or stiff petticoats. A simple glue can be made of the starch of ramson/buckram that has been used for book binding.
I have had an email about the Garlic Parsnips-
What you are describing could also be garlic mustard. I never thought of eating it before. Next year as I am pulling it, I will have to save some from the compost.