Garlic's Up!

Move beyond "supermarket garlic" - Grow your own!

Our herb garden. There should always be a stand of garlic (back center) in everyone's garden!

Garlic, is the go-to herb for so many dishes in so many different cultures. It is something both omnivores and vegetarians can agree on. Garlic brings its distinctive flavor, earthy aroma and subtle nuances to anything you use it with, giving wonderful character and depth of flavor to meats, seafood, vegetables, sauces, marinades, rubs, dressings, oil infusions, soups, stocks and stews, you name it. It is pungent when raw, mellow when cooked and rich and nutty when roasted and caramelized. It can be sweet and delicate or bold and lusty - it all depends on how it's treated, capice?

And, let's not forget it's health benefits. Whole books have been written about garlic's health and therapeutic value. Garlic has long been known for its antibacterial and antiviral properties. Studies have also shown that garlic has important cardio-protective properties in the form of blood cell and blood vessel protection from inflammatory and oxidative stress.

So, yes, we LOVE garlic here! For cooking and our health. We've been growing garlic as a staple in our garden for quite a few years, playing with different varieties - there are many, many varieties of garlic, each with it's own flavor "personality". This year we are growing Chesnok Red about 50 heads in all. Here's a little video of our garlic - 

These should be ready to pull in about a month or so. But in the meantime we can use the scapes! That's another cool thing about growing your own garlic - you get to enjoy the scapes.  Scapes are the tall curled flower bearing shoots that pop up in the center of the garlic plant and emerge from the center of the leaves. We snip them off before they become a flower so the garlic plant can devote all its energy to producing bigger garlic heads with more cloves. If you want to grow garlic for the seeds, you can let the scapes mature and flower then collect the seeds. We like to eat the scapes though. They are delicious and can be used just like garlic and they are ready a month or two before the garlic is ready to harvest. They look like this -   

Here is a link to a fun article about garlic scapes and how to prepare and enjoy them -

7 Things to do with Garlic Scapes - Recipes

Here is the garlic from back in Georgia a couple years ago

Harvest time!

Garlic hanging in our kitchen

If you love garlic too, or maybe you're a little garlic shy or are just garlic curious, check back on this blog because we will be posting creative ways to use and enjoy garlic as well as tips on growing-your-own. 

Here is a link to our favorite source for garlic planting stock =  The Garlic Store

They have a great variety of hard neck and soft neck garlic varieties with helpful descriptions of their taste and flavor. They are a one-stop garlic shop for growers, gourmets, gardeners, garlic Lovers, and garlic gifts!