Saturday, July 25, 2009

Garlic, baby!


Remember these?

Last October, I wrote a post (Knoblauch is the German word for...) about garlic and my intentions to grow it. And guess what....it grew!

While I originally had eight varieties, only seven made it into the ground. Here they are on 2/28/09, the sweet lil things:

Here they are on 4/01/09:

Two months later on 6/03/09:

On the evening of 6/09/09, we ran out of garlic for a meal we were making and needed to pull one early. It was very green tasting...it smelled great, but had a very sharp and unfinished tang to it. It actually looks like a green onion here, don't you think? But it sure helped us in a pinch:

On 6/12/09, it was time to cut the scapes off the hardneck varieties (softneck varieties don't generally grow scapes):

We made a fine batch of garlic scape pesto out of these. I have to say, the pesto was just a wee bit (understatement) strong, but if you mixed it with mayonnaise, it made an incredible sandwich spread:

On 6/20/09, I started to see the beginnings of leaves turning brown..the first sign of pending harvest:

By 7/13/09, some of the stalks had fallen over and were lying on the ground. I'm not sure this is supposed to happen. I dug a sample from each variety to see if they were ready:

They were looking good, but, to me, they still had the slight feel of "not quite ready". I decided to let them "bake" for one more week:

7/19/09: Harvest Day! And, because some of my best gardening work is done at dusk (or often in complete darkness)...:

...it felt entirely natural to harvest my garlic this way. Hence the need for the flash in this picture:

And in this one:

The next day, when daylight returned, I was able to get a better look at my harvest:

The garlic called "Music" is the clear winner for bulb size and intense garlic smell:

The Inchelium Red came in first for prettiness and second for potency of aroma:

And while I thought my Italian garlic (a softneck variety) was the clear winner for quantity, as I was separating them, I noticed a funny thing. On about half of the plants, there were scapes. And neck between the bulb and the stalk wouldn't bend. It appears my farmer's market sold me mislabeled garlic. How exciting...I have a garlic mystery:

So, on the right, I have some garlic masquerading as Italian garlic that is really not. I wonder what kind of garlic it is. I'll probably never know.

After tying all my delicious bundles of garlic together with twine, I let them rest on the front porch bench for a bit. It smelled so good every time we stepped outside:

Now my little beauties hang in my beloved barn, drying. I need to figure out the best way to do a garlic taste-test:

Anybody want some garlic? :-):

30 comments:

  1. yay for garlic! I love garlic. My mom-in-law were just pondering when we need to plant garlic...so now I know-this fall! thanks. :)

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  2. It's absolutely gorgeous. I am in awe!

    Ours turned out pretty well, and all we did was throw some of the store bought stuff we had in the ground. It certainly tastes better when it hasn't come to you on a boat from China though...

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  3. Oh yeah! Congrats on an amazing harvest.

    Taste test---roast a head of each in extra light olive oil so the oil doesn't change the taste.
    Break out the french bread and you'll be all set.
    Can I come? I'll clean the pans.

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  4. Bake them!!! They turn sweet in the oven and you can eat them straight. 'Oven roasted garlic' it's amazing stuff. I can't remember the exact method but I'm sure if you google it you will find several options.

    I am so jealous.

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  5. You have a goldmine. I saw a braid of garlic at the farmer's market last Sunday and made a beeline for it. The tag read $25 dollars. Yikes. I will grow my own next year.

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  6. Mmmm, garlic. Ranks right up there with olives for me.

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  7. The goatmother has some garlic. The company thought it was corn. Ha! City people. We have garlic in our herbal wormer. I think I'll pass.

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  8. I've never tried growing garlic but sure love cooking with it. This post was educational for me, thx.

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  9. I want some garlic! I'm pretty sure mine didn't do anything. I planted them in November and they came up almost right away. By January, the plants had died back, then we got snow. Then the weeds took over. I need to dig the bed and see if anything is in there.

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  10. I'm thinkin you won't have to worry about Vampires at Your place for a while!!

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  11. I just dug up my garlic last week. It seems like just yesterday that you were blogging about your garlic trial garden. I'm eager to see what you do with ALL OF THAT! That is a ton of garlic, farmgirl!

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  12. Beautiful! I've only grown garlic once. I'm not sure why I haven't grown it since. Your beautiful harvest is inspiring me to plant it again this fall! Lovely pictures - I could almost smell that wonderful aroma!

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  13. I love seeing all that garlic hanging in the barn. And I bet it smells heavenly. And as far as vampires...I think youre safe...especially since you hung them right there...at the foot of the stairs...I know whats up those stairs.

    That Cee Cee...she has some great ideas. :) Roast them and then try them on bread.....YUM! I bet that would give you some great taste test results.

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  14. hey...glad the cake was a hit. when exactly did you plant the garlic?

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  15. We have garlic growing out beside our barn that was here when we moved here. It comes back every year and I have no idea what kind it is or anything about it. This year I did pull some to bundle and it is drying in my barn. When is it finished drying and what are scapes?
    Thanks!!

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  16. Beautiful garlic Danni! I usually clean and braid my soft neck varieties to hang in my kitchen. That way they are handy when I need one for cooking.

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  17. Yum! I love a little garlic fried with onions and added to an omelet for breakfast. Roasted garlic is also absolutely delicious spread on fresh french bread.

    I guess you won't have to worry about vampires this year! ;o)

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  18. I had no clue there were things like "soft necks" and "hard necks" . . . and "scapes" . . . so much for us city-folks to learn. But that is a beautiful assortment of garlics! You're set until next season.

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  19. I am SO JEALOUS of your garlic harvest!!! We tried it here one year and it just rotted. Also very jealous that you have someplace to hang it :)

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  20. Yay! I'm so glad you're happy with the harvest. I remember many garlicky convos with you last fall. :) Very nice haul, girl!!

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  21. Music is our favorite too. We bought some 2 years ago and and I saved some and replanted last year for harvest this summer...very nice indeed. I also tried some other varieties but music is sooo good. I love that strong smell and even more, the taste!

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  22. They look so good Dani! Please keep us up to date on all garlic taste testing!
    PS My computer arrives tomorrow!!! Much earlier than they said!! I'm thrilled!

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  23. Best presentation on Garlic that I have ever seen, and I've been buying all kinds of garlic from Little Italy NYC for 30 years ...Great Post , and well done Danni !! I can smell them from here ! Honk Honk from Mulberry St !!

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  24. I had intended to grow garlic this year and didn't. Now, seeing your harvest I'm wishing I had.

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  25. I'm looking to grow garlic this fall. Thanks for the information. Whenever I'm driving behind a garlic or onion truck, I roll the windows down and enjoy the aroma.

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  26. We just pulled ours u NO but I have NO idea what is what. Not quite as organized as you. Nice job!

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  27. IMHO - the best way to taste test garlic is to make a nice little aioli and using the long crispy bread sticks dip away. You can use a mild mustard in the aioli and it will enhance the garlic's ability to shine.

    You just let me know if you need someone to help taste test, okay?! LOL! :)

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  28. Ooooh, how lovely. We planted tons of garlic our first year here in Montana. I was so excited. I had all manner of plans for it.

    I did not plan for the gophers to eat it all!

    I hope the cats enjoyed the garlic flavored gophers.

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  29. I missed this post until now so didn't know about the pickles yet! YUMMY! Very impressive work you do!

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