“My final, considered judgment is that the hardy bulb [garlic] blesses and ennobles everything it touches - with the possible exception of ice cream and pie.” -- Angelo Pellegrini, 'The Unprejudiced Palate' (1948)
I would argue even pie and ice cream could benefit from garlic's savory largesse. Indeed garlic's distinctive kick is such a taste-bud pleaser, I advocate erring on the side of generosity. Play and experiment, have fun, go wild with garlic. Throw in more than you think you'll need and a tad more, and then just maybe you'll wind up with enough. (Inquiring minds wanna know is there such a thing as too much garlic?)
In my second year of growing garlic I'm learning so much about this amazing plant, and the more I learn the more my admiration grows. Really and truly I think I have a big fat crush on garlic right now. Scandalous I know, but in addition to its aforementioned flavorful taste, let me count the ways I adore this savvy plant:
- Beautiful -- Observe the garlic bulb's divinely Rubenesque shape.
- Versatility-- Works as an appetizer, in salads, salad dressings, sauces, sides, on pizza, on toast, on chips, in eggs, dips and meats. Can be eaten at various stages in its life cycle -- early garlic greens, immature bulb, scapes (more on this later), mature cloves. In fact the only thing that would make "Green Eggs and Ham" a little better? Garlic. (Is it Seussical sacrilege to suggest that?)
- Bountiful and modestly priced - Garlic is so easy to grow you'll find it in ample quantities for next to nothing at farmers markets. It's at the grocery store too of course but will not be as fresh and hence is less flavorful than garlic from your garden or local farmers market.
- Hardy -- This lovely plant thrives across multiple growing zones although you do need to pay attention to species and plant what's suited to your climate zone.
- Resilient and sustainable -- My garlic patch survived a whale of a hail storm recently, and illustrates the concept of sustainability in it's regenerative properties and it's thrifty in the way it maximizes the use of resources. I plan to pass on cloves of garlic to my kids for their gardens when the time comes so they'll grow garlic descended from the garlic I'm growing now. Circle of life.
- Health and medicinal benefits -- Google "garlic health" and watch the testimonials grow brothers and sisters. How about a hearty "hallelujah" or amen" for garlic!
- Mythical -- Protects humans from vampires. If you believe in vampires no offense intended with the term mythical. I use the word to illustrate garlic's place in literary history.
- Storage -- When stored properly garlic retains its freshness for up to nine months or longer.
- Food security -- Garlic has a practical side too, enhancing the flavor and nutrition of foods that do well in long-term storage such as beans, rice and grains which makes it a shrewd addition to pantries and emergency food supplies.
- Fun -- Garlic is sassy with a capital "S", sassy as in playful, even whimsical. Not convinced? Read on.
Our garlic is scaping. That means the upper portion of the stalk is loop-de-looping itself into sublimely curvaceous shapes with graceful triangular shaped bulbous points at the end.
See? Sassy eh!
If left to pursue it's natural course, the diminutive bulb on the scape will burst into flower with bulbils, tiny garlic cloves that can be trimmed from the plant and eaten or saved to be planted later. If planted, garlic bulbils will eventually grow into the nice fat garlic bulbs we enjoy cooking with, but it does take longer than planting a mature garlic clove.
Garlic scapes are considered a highly prized delicacy by some. I've yet to nibble on them but aim to try it tonight on our whole-wheat pizza. Would love to hear from anyone about recipes using garlic scapes and how folks find the flavor.
When the garlic begins scaping, some experts consider this to be akin to the "bolting" other plants such as lettuce and spinach do, and recommend harvesting the scapes so the plant will instead focus its energy on continuing to grow prodigious, healthy bulbs below ground. And some advocate leaving a few scapes to flower and then use the bubils for seed.
Depending on who you read or Google when garlic scapes that could mean it's time to harvest. After reading up a bit, I've decided to go with the same method we used last year which worked quite well, and harvest when the lower leaves have turned brown and only the upper ones are still green. I'll also harvest some of the scapes, leave others to flower and save some bulbils for planting.
Once harvested we'll hang the garlic in bunches to cure (that takes a few weeks). Fine Gardening gives a good overview of growing garlic from start to storage but if you revel in detail and opinion diversity, there are bounteous resources on every aspect of garlic -- growing, cooking, storage -- on the Web. Google or Bing away and have fun.
After the garlic has cured a few weeks, we'll clean and braid it for hanging storage. This will be our first try at braiding garlic. I found a useful video (see below) from www.gardennerd.com that makes it seem simple. I'll let you know if it's really this easy. If I'm all thumbs and screw this up -- always possible -- I'll hang it in mesh bags in a cool, dry place.
Come fall we'll grab some cloves, tuck them into compost and start the whole process all over again. Regeneration in motion, thankfully ensuring my big fat garlic crush can just keep on growing.
