Garlic

Today’s Main Ingredient is Garlic!
Host Mikki Uzupes talks with farmer Brian Fox from Salem Mountain Farm, where they grow over 30,000 garlic plants each year, and ‘culinary switch-hitter’ Marcia Dunsmore from Myrtle Avenue Bakehouse in Hawley. Registered Dietitian Carol Kneier shares that eating garlic reduces inflammation, lowers cholesterol, and has other health benefits.

Scroll down to the end of the page for this week’s podcast “extra reel”, and to learn about “green” and “black” garlic!
A bulb or “head” of garlic, seen here whole, with cloves revealed (on the right), and a single, peeled clove in the foreground.

About Garlic

Garlic is an easy-to-grow crop. Known as the “stinking rose,” it is also a good insect repellent in the garden and for centuries has been used medicinally and as a home remedy. Garlic is classed in the Allium genus, along with its close relatives onions, leeks, shallots and chives. It’s a culinary staple in many cultures, both east and west.

Planting

Garlic is generally planted in autumn and then harvested the following summer, but it also can be planted in late winter/early spring. Plant where your garlic will receive full sun for 6 to 8 hours a day, in loamy, slightly acidic or neutral soil. When planted between September and November (usually after first frost), the roots develop during the fall and winter before the ground fully freezes. After the ground freezes, mulch well with 6 inches of straw or hay. Garlic needs a cold period of at least 40˚F for about 4 to 8 weeks. In early spring the plants will start producing foliage, easily pushing through the mulch.
• Get cloves from a local farmer or mail-order seed company. These are the seeds! Hardneck varieties are extremely cold-hardy and do well in the northeast U.S.
Important: Do not use cloves purchased from the grocery store, as most are treated to make their shelf life longer. They also do not grow well.
• Break cloves apart from the bulb several days before planting, but keep the papery husk on each individual clove.
• Plant the cloves 2 to 4 inches apart, 2 inches deep, with the pointed end facing up and the wide root end facing down.
• Plant in rows spaced 10 to 14 inches apart.

Growing

• In winter, young shoots can’t survive temperatures below 20˚ Fahrenheit, so mulch heavily with straw for overwintering. Plus the mulch will keep down weeds and the soil from drying out.
• From mid-May through June, water every 3 to 5 days, then taper off watering as mid-June approaches.
• Garlic requires adequate levels of nitrogen, so fertilize if you see yellowing leaves.
• Before a flower blossoms, cut off the thin, curly upper stalks of the garlic plant.

Harvesting

• Scapes are ready to harvest a month or two before the garlic bulbs.
• Look for yellowing leaves from late June to August as a clue for when to harvest the bulbs.
• Dig up and inspect at least one bulb before the tops are completely yellow to see if your crop is ready to harvest.
• Once the bulbs are ready to harvest, use a spade or garden fork to lift plants carefully from the soil. Do not pull them up.
• Brush off the dirt and let the garlic plants cure in an airy, shady, dry spot for 2 weeks, making sure there’s good air circulation around them.
• Handle gently; bruised garlic doesn’t store well.
• After the bulbs are cured (the skin should be papery, the roots dry and the root crown hard) store in a cool, dark, dry place (about 40˚F is ideal).
• If you plan to plant garlic again, save the best-formed bulbs to plant their cloves (seeds) again in the fall.

In the Kitchen

Cuisines from around the world build their cooked, savory dishes on a foundation of sautéed onion and garlic, and then, depending on the food culture, they add other aromatic vegetables that provide a pleasant background flavor in the finished dish. The Italians have soffritto (onion & garlic sautéed in olive oil), and the Spanish have sofrito (onion, garlic & tomato or tomato paste sautéed in olive oil). The Chinese start dishes with ginger, garlic & chili peppers in vegetable oil. While garlic is not required in the French mirepoix (onion, carrots & celery sautéed in butter), it is certainly optional, as it is with the Cajun Trinity (onion, bell pepper & celery sautéed in vegetable oil).

Although available throughout the year, garlic is best in the spring and early summer when it is picked fresh; its tender, young cloves are moist and the skin is not quite hard and is almost pure white. As garlic ages and dries, its skin becomes brittle, the cloves begin to yellow and wrinkle, it loses its sweetness and acquires a sharp taste. Old garlic is still good to cook with, but use sparingly in raw dishes because of its strong flavor.
• Store garlic out of the refrigerator in a basket or a crock with a loose-fitting lid so air can circulate.
• Leave garlic in its skin until you are ready to use it, and do not chop it long before you need it.
• Once peeled, garlic cloves can be used whole, mashed, sliced thinly, or chopped finely. However, passing the cloves through a garlic press unfortunately produces an acrid flavor and pressed garlic cannot be sautéed properly. This is also a common issue with commercial minced garlic preserved in jars.
• You may want to remove the green sprout that’s inside the center of each clove. It’s called the “germ” and it can be strong-flavored and occasionally bitter. Cut each clove in half lengthwise and gently pull out the germ. [FYI: If the clove were planted, this germ would grow and become the first stalk of a new garlic plant.]

Storage:
Short term
To keep roasted garlic for up to 3 days, place in a Ziplock bag or another plastic container insideyour refrigerator. Be sure to keep the cloves inside the protective outer peel. You should be able to fit quite a few heads of garlic into one plastic bag. Note: Roasted garlic that has gone bad may become brown, mushy, or smell rotten.
To keep roasted garlic for up to a week, put the roasted garlic cloves in an air-tight
container and pour in enough olive oil to completely cover all the cloves. Pop the lid on
and put the container in the refrigerator These roasted cloves should stay good for
about one week in the fridge.
Warning: Make sure you NEVER store garlic in oil at room temperature, as this can be a
perfect breeding ground for botulism-causing bacteria.
To freeze Garlic:
Method 1: Preserve whole heads of roasted garlic for up to 10 – 12 months in an air-tight
container the freezer.  Frozen cooked garlic has a much longer shelf life than frozen raw garlic.
Method 2: Over a plate or other clean surface, extract the roasted cloves by holding the head of garlic on the bottom, un-cut side and squeezing upwards with your fingers so that the roasted cloves begin to pop out Extract the soft, roasted cloves from their papery casings and mash each clove individually; then place each one in a separate cell of an ice cube tray. Once the cubes have frozen (after an hour or so), you can pop them out and place them all in a Ziplock bag together for up to 10 – 12 months.

Technique: for mincing garlic into a smooth paste for sauces or salad dressing recipes: Sprinkle a bit of salt, preferably kosher, over chopped garlic. Rub the garlic with the blade of a wide knife, pressing firmly into your cutting board, and then keep mincing. The coarse grains of salt help break down garlic faster.

Technique: to prepare 2-ingredient Italian soffritto: Sauté the onion first, and after it becomes translucent, the garlic is added and cooked briefly until it is pale gold.
When sautéing garlic, never take your eyes off it, and never allow it to become colored a dark brown because this is what creates the offensive garlic-cooking smell and because a bitter taste will develop.

Cooking with Garlic Scapes

Technique: Trim and discard the stringy tip of the scape, then cut the stalk crosswise, either into tiny coins or string bean-like pieces.

The next time you’re at the farmers’ market, pick up a bunch—scapes will keep for weeks in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

Garlic Recipes

Extras

Brian talks more about their garlic growing techniques, and both Brian and Marcia share their experiences with “green garlic” and extra tasty “black garlic!”

More on Black Garlic

How to make black garlic:
• Find a well-ventilated place, such as a garage or a protected outdoor location to follow this method for making black garlic. This is because there will be an intense smell of garlic that will permeate the house if done inside.
• Using a dry, clean, unused sponge with a rough surface, remove any dirt from several bulbs. Do not wash with water, which will disrupt the aging process.
• Place the whole garlic bulbs in a rice cooker or slow cooker, plug it in, and make sure it’s set to the warm or “keep warm” setting to keep the temperature between 140˚ and 170˚ Fahrenheit.
• Cover the bulbs with a layer of plastic wrap and two layers of aluminum foil; this step will help prevent the loss of humidity and help maintain the right temperature. Then wait 3 to 4 weeks, allowing the cloves to slowly become soft and black. Do not open the lid for the first 2 weeks.
• Around 14 days, the cloves will be black and rock hard, but let the process continue. At some point within the next week, the cloves will begin to shrivel so the bulbs’ paper feels loose, and this is when to check for doneness. Press your finger firmly against one clove to feel if it’s softening. If you feel it is, then remove one clove from the bulb’s paper skin for closer examination and peel the clove.
• Black garlic is ready when it’s spongy-soft and chewy—similar to a dried date or fig. Some of the inner cloves may not quite be ready, so leaving it for a few extra days is a good idea. Also, if the cloves look brown, they need a few more days to become completely black.
• When done, air dry the garlic heads for 4 to 5 days. After that the whole bulbs can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 months or in the refrigerator for longer shelf life.

How To Make Black Garlic (video):

Using Black Garlic: Replace black garlic for regular garlic in any recipe or as you would use roasted garlic. It works especially well when minced. Use in dressings and dipping sauces. Blend a few cloves into mayonnaise, or purée them with oil and then smear the paste on crostini. Rub it onto chicken or fish before roasting. Try black garlic vinaigrette, or chive & black garlic cream cheese spread. Toss minced black garlic with pasta or with beans & greens. Mix it into with ground meats.

Want to know more?
• https://www.black-garlic.org
• How To Use Black Garlic: 15 Easy Ways | Gousto Blog
• DIY Black Garlic – Bing Video