Garlic

Distribution Window: July through October

General Info
This crop is planted around Halloween, then mulched. It overwinters and emerges from the soil in early spring, growing vigorously in the summer, to be harvested at the end of July. Garlic is a staple in an endless list of recipes, in both raw and cooked form. See recipe links at the close of this post for inspiration.

Varieties We Grow for Distribution
Carpathian, Chesnok Red, German Extra Hardy, Music

How we distribute

Instead of holding onto the thousands of bulbs at the farm and distributing them little by little, we give them out in bulk.  At littleGrasse, we enjoy being very generous with this beloved crop, giving out 50 bulbs to each Greens & Beyond Share. Part of the reason we are able to give so much to each share, is the system of spreading out the labor by having each house cure their own. If we bunched and cured it here at the farm, it would likely lead to a smaller total planting as we’d be handling all the members garlic. Instead, we focus on curing the seed stock for the fall planting and give out all the eating bulbs. We realize it takes more effort for your household, but we hope ultimately that your efforts lead to many delicious meals.

Also, giving it out all at once instead of little by little during the summer and fall lets each house decide how and when to use it. Perhaps you’d like to use many at once to make a big batch of roasted cloves or create homemade garlic powder. It’s up to you- once cured it will last at least into April, possibly longer.

Curing
When garlic is first harvested, it’s wrapper leaves are still bright and moist and it’s considered “fresh”. It’s delicious at this stage.  It has the ability to last for months, once it’s been cured, which is a simple process where the leaves dry out and the skin around the cloves is dry to protect the moist cloves. There are multiple ways to do this, here’s how we do it at the farm. Check out the video below to see the tying in action.

1. Cut a piece of twine or string 4 feet long.
2. Make two evenly sized bunches of full garlic plants up to 12 garlic plants- stalk, bulb, roots and all.
3. Put one end of the string around the center of the garlic stalk and tie that bunch together tightly.
4. Take the other end of the string and tie the second bunch together tightly.
5. Now you have a unit that can be hung from a nail or rafter.
6. Put the bunches out of direct sunlight in a dray, warm spot for at least three weeks. You know it’s finished curing once all the leaves turn brown and have a dry wilted appearance.
7. Now you have the option of the moving the bunch to your storage location and keep it hanging, or to top each bulb 1″ above the top of the bulb to store in another container. Clipping the roots is optional.

Storage
The easiest way to store the cured garlic is in a mesh bag, basket or clay pot. Since we only distribute hardneck garlic, this is not generally braided. Garlic keeps longest when stored at 55º to 65ºF and moderate humidity. This is what makes storing fresh garlic throughout the winter a unique challenge: Heated winter homes are often very dry—so dry that garlic cloves will shrivel up and turn rock-like inside their papery skins (if that ever happens to yours, just toss them, skins and all, into a batch of vegetable stock). Try storing in an area that doesn’t freeze, but is cooler than the main part of your home, such as an entryway, closet or relatively dry basement.