Piermont Community Garden: Harvesting Garlic in July and Curing It for Storage

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Harvesting Garlic in July and Curing It for Storage

THE SCAPES

In June, the scapes, which are the flower stalk of your hard-necked varieties, will start to grow. Do cut them and use in cooking. Don't wait until they fully uncurl or they can get tough and even woody. If you fail to cut the scapes, they can draw energy from the plant and the bulbs may not be as large.

READY?

If you planted garlic last fall and have kept the garlic patch well-weeded (garlic hates competition of any kind in its patch) and if you have watered it well until around May 20, then on the Solstice –– June 21–– your garlic will happily and literally stop growing. Its beautiful green leaves will start to turn brown over the next weeks. Note the hard necked garlic above on June 23. This requires monitoring carefully starting in late June/early July. If you are going to eat all your garlic as soon as you harvest, you need not read further. But, if you want to store it for any period of time, make sure the bulb has enough cover to protect it. Do not let all the leaves turn brown before digging!! Each bulb should be harvested when there are about 4-5 green leaves left. Each one of those leaves is responsible for that papery covering you see on the heads in the grocery store. That's what protects the head from deteriorating. Often harvest begins around July 4 in our Garden but it can be sooner depending the those leaves!

HARVESTING

Once you are ready to harvest, dig carefully around the bulb to lift it intact without wounding it or it will not store well. Remove the excess dirt taking care not to damage that outer papery layer on the bulb.

CURING

Nor will it store well if you fail to cure it. To begin curing, bundle the hard-necked garlic (or braid the soft-necked) and hang it in a place with good air circulation out of the sunlight or with minimal sunlight. Curing takes about 3-6 weeks. Once curing is finished, cut the long pieces of the roots off and store in a cool, dry place. Soft-necked garlic stores longer than hard-necked (8 mos vs 6 mos or less) but many prefer to grow hard-necked for its great flavor! Soft-necked garlic is always available in the store year round. Not so with hard-necked, although it often can be found during the summer at Farmer's Markets.

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RECIPES for THE GARDEN VEGETABLES and HERBS

TOMATO GLUT SAUCE

Adapted by Joan Gussow from The NY Times & found in her book This Organic Life p 195 with more suggestions for this sauce.

Preheat oven to 400º F

Put into a large roasting pan:

6 pounds tomatoes (plum are best) cored and quartered

1½ c coarsely chopped carrots (opt)

1½ c coarsely chopped celery (opt)

1½ c coarsely chopped onions

9 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

6 Tbl balsamic vinegar

1 bay leaf

1½ Tbl each fresh thyme, basil, oregano, parsley

1½ tsp salt (or less)

1 Tbl freshly ground black pepper

Roast for 45 minutes or until vegetables are soft. Process briefly to leave slightly chunky, and freeze in 2-cup portions. Makes 2 quarts (4 pounds)

TRANSFORM ALL THOSE CUCUMBERS into PICKLES!

Lacto-Fermented "Kosher" Dill Pickles

This is a great and easy recipe to make pickles and they taste like the deli pickles we buy in the store. I use horse radish leaves (which we have plenty) and whatever spices I have. I also put the lid on lightly so the air can escape and I don't have to burp it daily. Start checking after 3 days. ENJOY! Unda

CARROTS, SAUTEED
relish.com Andrew Cotto
Serves 2-3

1½ Tbl olive oil
1 lb carrots, cut diagonally into ½" slices
½ tsp sugar
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper (opt)
Garlic clove, minced
½ Tbl balsamic vinegar

Heat olive oil in a medium sauté pan over MED-LO heat.

Add carrots, sugar & oregano. Sprinkle with S&P. Cook, covered, 5 min, stirring occasionally.

Add garlic & cook, stirring frequently, until carrots are tender and slightly browned, 7-8 min.

Remove from heat and stir in vinegar.

GREEN BEAN DRESSING
Adapted from ‘Eat Right 4 Your Type’
Serves 2

½ lb fresh green beans, steamed until done to taste.

DRESSING:
½ lemon -- squeeze juice into container
1 clove garlic (organic hardneck is the best!), crushed, minced or cut up in small pieces
½ tsp salt (original calls for twice as much salt.)
1½ Tbl olive oil

Mix lemon juice, garlic & salt, then add oil. Pour the dressing over the hot green beans and serve hot or refrigerate to serve as cold salad later. Dressing also good over plain rice.

IMAN BAYELDI – an EGGPLANT MAIN DISH

Translated: And the Priest Fainted (it was so good!)

from Superfoods by D. Riccio

Serves 4 as entree, 8 as appetizer
Bake 1 hr @ 400º F

2 med eggplant (3/4 lb each)
3+ Tbl olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
(not chopped or pressed)
1 lg onion, chopped
4 lg tomatoes, peeled & chopped (or drained 16 oz can)

½+ tsp dried thyme

salt & pepper to taste

juice of a half lemon

1 tsp sugar

1 cinnamon stick

Cut eggplant in half lengthwise. Cut off strips of peel lengthwise at 1" intervals. On the flat side, make several deep slashes in the eggplant flesh, but do not cut all the way thru. Salt the cut eggplant and let it drain in a colander for 30 minutes. Rinse. Squeeze out excess water and pat dry.

Heat oil in skillet. Brown flat side of eggplant in oil and place halves in baking dish flat side up.

Sauté onions and garlic in the same pan; add more oil if necessary until they are soft. Add tomatoes, thyme, salt & pepper. Cook over MED-HI heat until tomatoes are sauce consistency. Spoon sauce over eggplant halves, pressing into slashes. Sprinkle on more thyme.

Preheat oven to 400º F. Put enough water in the baking dish to come half way up the eggplant sides. Add lemon juice, sugar & cinnamon stick. Cover tightly with aluminum foil tent. Bake 1 hour. Let cool in pan juices. Remove to serving dish. Serve at room temperature.

HAROLD'S BRUSSELS SPROUTS
Best carmelized in an iron frying pan

8 oz Brussels sprouts

water

1+ Tbl olive oil

1½ Tbl butter, cut up in cubes

salt to taste

¼ tsp dried dill weed

Clean and halve the sprouts. Arrange in a single layer in the frying pan. Add enough water to bring it halfway up the sprouts. Cover and bring to a boil. Cook about 6 min until tender.

Remove the lid and continue cooking until all the water is evaporated -- about 3 min.

Pour in the oil (at least 1 Tbl), spreading it around (turn the pan and tilt). Cook another 3 min to help caramelize & sweeten the sprouts.

Add butter around the sprouts. Shake a little salt over all. Sprinkle on at least ¼ tsp dill on top. Continue browning until tender. Serve.

IRISH VEGETABLE SOUP

from a casual eatery on the Burren in Co Claire, 1986

Sauté gently in a Dutch oven or similar pan:

1 medium onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

2 Tbl butter

Add:

1 qt chicken broth (canned or homemade)

3 medium potoates, quartered (can be unpeeled)

1 carrot, sliced

1 small to medium white turnip, quartered

1-2 sprigs celery top

1 BOUQUET GARNI:

¼ tsp thyme (dried)

½ tsp parsley (dried) or 1½ Tbl fresh

1/3 Bay leaf

Opt: 1 chicken bouillon cube

Bring all the ingredients to a boil. Cover and simmer 30 min. Cool. Remove bouquet garni and celery top. Purée in blender or food processor.

Serve hot with a dollop of sour cream and garlic croutons. This soup can also be frozen.

PARSNIP FENNEL SOUP

from the kitchen of Sharon in Seattle, WA

1 lb parsnips, peeled & cubed (about 2¼ c)

1 lb fennel bulbs, peeled & (save fronds)

1 onion, chopped

6 Tbl unsalted butter

In a kettle on MED-LO, cook parsnips, fennel & onion in butter for 15 min or until softened.

¼ c flour

5 c chicken broth (canned OK)

Add flour to form a roux & cook 3 min, stirring all the time. Stir in chicken broth. Bring to a boil & simmer for 15 min, stirring occasionally.

Cool enough to put in blender or food processor & cream, adding some fennel fronds for additional fennel flavor.

1 c half 'n half (original calls for heavy cream)--approximately 2 Tbl/cup of soup.

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp fresh ground pepper

Reheat in pot, add half 'n half and salt & pepper, simmering until heated through.

COLLEEN'S DEVILED EGGS

12 boiled eggs*
1 Tbl Dijon-style mustard
½ c mayonnaise (I use Hellmann's)

½ tsp dry dill

salt to taste

paprika (opt)

Mix mayonnaise, mustard & dill while eggs are cooking.

Cut eggs in half; remove cooked yolks to separate dish, add salt to taste & mash well before adding the mayo mix or will be lumpy. Stir in mayo mix until yolks are moistened well and not lumpy. Using a teaspoon, fill the egg whites with the yolk mix. Top with paprika if desired.

*Boiling eggs -- older eggs peel better than real fresh ones: Cover the eggs well with water and stir while bringing to a boil to keep the yolk evenly spaced in the egg. After coming to a boil, remove from heat and cover for 13 min. Remove eggs and plunge in cold ice water to stop the cooking. Leaving in the heat too long will cause the outer yolk to exhibit a grey color. Fast cooling also helps when it comes to peeling the eggs. (Save cooled egg water which is great for your houseplants).

Piermont Community Garden

Autumn in the Garden

Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Harvesting Garlic in July and Curing It for Storage

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