Garlic
I don’t have to
explain about garlic. Garlic
remains one of our most popular selling crops. It is versatile and tasty and keeps away vampires and the common cold. Ah Garlic, it’s amazing. Garlic can be
harvested at 3 stages: scapes (second picture above), green and bulbs (left
picture?). Garlic scapes are
essentially the flower stalks.
They are harvested in June and a nice prequel to the garlic season
ahead. Green garlic is the
immature bulb with edible leaves.
Both the scapes and the green garlic have a mild garlic flavor. The bulbs most of us are used to buying
are dried, but it is fine to eat fresh and “young” garlic too, although dried
garlic has the richest taste.
Storage and Preparation:
Garlic scapes should be stored in the refrigerator. They will actually store for quite a long time. Garlic bulbs should be stored in the refrigerator at 32 degrees-it actually likes a bit of humidity. In these conditions garlic can be stored for up to 6 months! Be sure to cut off any woody pieces before preparing.
Roasted Garlic:
Preheat oven to 375
degrees.
Remove as much of the
paper from 2 whole heads of garlic as possible without breaking apart the
cloves.
Place garlic heads in
1/4 cup water in a small baking dish.
Drizzle with 1 tsp
olive oil.
Cover with foil or
baking dish cover.
Put into oven and
baste with oil/water mixture after 30 minutes. Bake till garlic is soft and
easily pierced with a thin-bladed knife @ 1 hour total cooking time.
Other Recipe Ideas:
- The scapes can be used chopped raw or sautéed in any recipe you would normally use garlic.
- I like to place the scapes on a cookie sheet and add olive oil, salt and pepper. Bake at 375 degrees until crispy. Yummy!
- Becky likes to slice garlic bulbs in thin chip and bake till crispy. You can put the garlic chips on thai noodle dishes for Erica or on your salads.
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