It's Garlic time!

Well, here it is, practically September, and at this time of year , all of our thoughts naturally turn to one thing.



That’s right.

Garlic.



Why Garlic, you ask.

Is September National Garlic Month?

No, of course not, silly, that’s April.

National Vampire Month?

Nope, that one is July.

September is even Better. National Cholesterol Month.

Now, let’s get one things straight right now. I am not a doctor, and will not ever pretend to give medical advice, and will in fact hem and haw and stammer my way out of any situation where someone asks me which herb will cure their lumbago, or which is good for their libido.

It is widely rumored, however, among those who like to spread rumors about such things, that garlic will help to lower your cholesterol.

It seems that the more garlic you eat, the lower your cholesterol will go. It also appears as if the most effective method of taking garlic is to eat it raw. This coupled with the fact that the effects are largely temporary, means that you will have to eat a whole lot of raw garlic every day, if you intend to replace your cholesterol medicine with garlic.

Since consuming large amounts of raw garlic daily will make you somewhat undesirable to be around, it is best that you grow your own garlic, to avoid offending those who you would come into contact with when buying it in large quantities.

So, I wanted to share some tips and ideas for how to grow garlic.

*Disclaimer, I am NOT advocating that anyone replace their cholesterol medicine with garlic, nor any other medicine with an herbal alternative, without fully discussing such a move with their doctor.
In the last little while, I have been fact checking my material for the fall/winter series I will be teaching this year and I have discovered that there is an awful lot of incorrect, or partially incorrect information out there on the internet about herbs.
I guess all you need is a keyboard and a few hours, with no real knowledge and you can write an authoritative sounding article about herbs. So please, check with your doctor, before you make any dramatic changes in your life based on anything you read on the internet.

But now, lets get back to garlic.

Garlic is one of the oldest known cultivated crops. Possibly because it is easy to grow, and easy to store. When people have told me this summer me they can’t grow garlic, I have to point out to them that last year our four year old and her preschool class grew garlic. Enough that I actually took the extras to market and sold them for them.

So, if a group of four year olds can grow garlic, then I'd bet you can too!

The first step is to decide which garlic to grow.

There are over 600 varieties of Garlic, but they all fall into two main subspecies. Hardneck and Softneck. Softneck garlic generally matures a little earlier, and Hardneck will keep longer once it is harvested.

I recommend planting some of each if you can find it, but if you can only do one, then I suggest a hardneck. If you do it right, you will have garlic for most of the winter.

Garlic requires a cold spell and a long growing season. Experts suggest a cold spell of no warmer than 40-45 degrees for 2-3 weeks, so, if you live in an area where you don’t have that kind of temperatures, putting it in the refrigerator for a month before you plant it will help encourage sprouting. For those of us in the colder temperate zones, planting in the fall ensures a nice cold spell.

Ancient folklore said that garlic should be planted at midnight, on the longest night of the year. But since most of us aren’t ancient folk, we can get away with a modified schedule.

Plant your garlic 4-6 weeks before you expect your ground to freeze. For me that means around the first to middle of October. You can click here for an easy site that will tell you when your frost and freeze dates are.

Planting the Garlic is one of the last things I do before I put the garden to bed for the winter.

Generally, you don't have to do too much to get the soil ready, because you have already harvested your garden, and pulled out all the tomato vines and pepper plants, and when you did that it loosened your soil up, so you have it all ready to plant.

I like to plant Garlic around the edges of my garden. It is rumored to help deter deer, rabbits and other animals from the garden. I cant prove it, but since I have no reason to disbelieve it, and the garlic has to go somewhere, I figure, the border is as good a place as any other.

You can buy seed garlic, or you can plant the little bulbils from last years crop that you carefully saved, but the easiest thing to do is just get a head of garlic and separate it gently into cloves.

Each clove will grow into a head of garlic. The larger the clove, the larger the head it will produce, so I take the big ones around the edges from several heads and save the smaller ones in the middle to cook with.

Look carefully at the clove.

There will be a flat end and a pointy end.

The flat end is the basal plate, where the roots will grow. Make sure that end goes down in the soil, and the pointy end goes up. Otherwise, you will get a situation where the plant grows down from the tip, and has to turn around before it can start growing up.

The fancy word for that, for those who care, is gravitropism.

This leads to a weaker anchor in the ground and the head will not be as attractive.

The plant will grow up from the basal plate, so however deep you plant it, that is how deep it will grow,. The clove does not travel down, so plant your garlic deep enough to give it room to grow. A rule of thumb with most bulbs is to plant to a depth twice as deep as the bulb is tall. I usually just figure a clove of garlic is about to my first knuckle, so I plant it two knuckles deep. I poke my index finger in the soil, up to the second knuckle, pull it out, and drop in a garlic clove. Then a little soil over it and it is good to go.

Your garlic may, or may not, start growing this fall. It's OK if it does, and OK if it doesn't. But either way, once the ground freezes, it will stop growing. It is important that it not freeze and thaw repeatedly, or it will start to grow when it thaws, then get killed when it refreezes. So, once the ground is frozen, cover the garlic with 4-6 inches of mulch. All the leaves you raked out of your yard this time of year work great for this. This helps to keep the ground from thawing and will protect your garlic.

Now is the hard part. Waiting until spring.

In the spring, you will see your garlic emerging as soon as the ground thaws. If you want, after the last chance of frost has passed, pull the mulch away. If you used leaves, you shouldn't have to do this unless they packed tightly during the winter and became matted. More likely, they will have broken down enough that they do not need to be moved. But you want your emerging plants to be exposed to sunlight.

Let them grow, and keep being patient.

In late spring, early summer, you should see the plants forming a flower, (note this only happens on hardneck garlic.) This flower, often called a scape, should be cut off, to allow for the energy of the plant to go into producing a head and not a flower.

The head on the left had the scapes cut off. The one on the right no cutting was done

Garlic scapes are edible and have a wonderful garlic flavor. Saute some in butter and serve them as a side dish.

When the tops turn yellow and start to die, it is time to harvest your garlic. If you wait too long, not only will the garlic be dry and starting to crack through the outer skin, but the plants will be gone and you will have a herd time finding them. So, don't wait too long. Loosen the soil with a fork, or shovel, and lift the garlic out by the leaves.

It is suggested that you allow it to cure for 10-14 days in a dry place after harvesting. Uncured garlic can be eaten, but the curing process helps it to keep longer.

Herbed Oil

Hi everyone!

One of the products we created and sell through our company, DTL Herbs LTD is an Herbed Dipping Oil Blend.

The above picture is from a presentation we did last week about how to use and cook with herbs. What’s the point of going without getting to try yummy treats right?

This product took us awhile to get just right because Troy and I LOVE herbed dipping oil whenever we went to restaurants that served it. We kept the flavors we liked and added the ones we thought would be tasty in it that they didn’t have in theirs.

When we presented this product to our customers last year, it quickly became one of our best sellers! It is always reassuring that our customers like the same things we do! LOL

Besides using it as a dipping oil with yummy chewy bread, we use this product here at home all the time for various things. When I make up the oil, I actually buy a medium bottle of extra virgin olive oil and use a couple of packets of the herbed dipping oil. This bottle stays near the stove all the time.

Instead of using plain olive oil whenever we cook, we use the herbed infused oil instead. It gives eggs, potatoes, pasta and whatever else that extra little herb flavor. Delish!

So, our Herbed Dipping Oil is not just for dipping bread into. Use it in all your cooking that needs some oil. It is also great brushed over homemade bread or rolls! I love to use it when I open a refrigerated package of biscuits or croissants, just brush the oil over before baking.

For those of you that don’t have access to our products (which we are still working on changing that and opening an online store as soon as we can!) you can certainly create your own Herbed Dipping Oil. Just play around and add the savory dried herbs that you like. It’s a trial and error type of thing until you get it the way you want. Believe me, WE know! LOL

You can create a Herbed Dipping Oil with fresh herbs if you like. However, you need to know that if you use fresh herbs you can only keep it for a couple of days in the fridge.

A fresh herb oil blend should be made only when you plan to use it all immediately!

Why you ask?

Fresh herbs contain trace amounts of water or moisture. The oil won’t support bacterial growth but, even the smallest trace of water will.  Botulism bacteria flourishes in this environment. Even in a sealed bottle. And please remember garlic is an herb and is one of the most moisture filled of the herbs.

Now I know what you are thinking, “Um, Diann? I see garlic in olive oil all the time at the store.” Yup, you do. However, commercial garlic (and or herb) oil products have been preserved prior to immersing onto the oil.

The way it is done commercially is to first preserve the water-containing garlic, herb, etc. with a strong brine or vinegar solution, then put it in the oil. The vinegar solutions used commercially are up to 4 times stronger than the vinegars you find in the supermarket.

So, have fun and play with herbed oils. They add great flavor to so many dishes!

 

 

Whole Food Wednesday

Quick Pickled Cucumbers

Hi everyone!

I am sure a lot of you make these quick pickled cucumber sliced. But, I thought I would share my recipe. These are kept in the fridge and the longer they are in there, the stronger they are.

Like I have said before, we get fresh produce at least 4 days a week from the vegetable vendors at the farmers markets.

Normally for a post, I would use a pretty canning jar or some other pretty jar. But folks, today we are keeping it real. I did not have a canning jar, rim and lid handy and I needed to deal with these cucumbers now. So, I improvised and used an emptied mayo jar for these.

Troy brought these 5 cucumbers home last night. I already have some for salads and I have a Ziploc bag filled with sliced cucumbers for munching. But, I hate to see anything go to waste, especially when someone is kind enough to give them to us!

So, a quick pickled jar of cucumbers is called for today!

Peel and slice up cucumbers and toss in jar.

Now normally I have onions to slice up and add to this jar but, I am all out today. I also like to chop up a jalapeño and add it. 

(Geez, didn’t even use a pretty ceramic mixing bowl. Oh no, just whipped out the old Tupperware!)

Your will need to adjust the measurements of things according to how much you are making. This is a large mayo jar and 5 smaller cucumbers.

Whisk together:

2 cups of Apple Cider Vinegar

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

1 Tablespoon of minced garlic (if you don’t have fresh, use powdered)

1 Tablespoon of onion powder

1/2 cup of Splenda (you can use sugar as well)

Occasionally to change things up a bit, I will add ground mustard to this mix. And you certainly can add some chopped dill as well.

Once all of this is all whisked, pour into jar of cucumbers. Use a table knife to kind of poke around in there so all the vinegar is mixed in with the cucumbers.

As you can see in the picture, I do not fill all the way to the top. Once you have the vinegar in, close the lid tightly and shake. Put into fridge. Every time I open the fridge, I shake the jar of cucumbers. 

You can start eating them after a few hours. The longer they are in the fridge, the stronger the flavor.

Quick, yummy, cheap and almost calorie free! What more could you ask for?

Herb of the Week -- Garlic

The herb of the week is Garlic.(allium sativum )

I have been putting off writing about Garlic because I have been trying to decide if it is a real herb or not. It is generally classified as an herb, but all of the other herbs I grow, I use the leaves, or sometimes an occasional flower, whereas when I harvest Garlic, I discard the leaves, and just use the bulb.

But I finally decided that if Chives, which are the smallest member of the onion family are an herb, than it stands to reason that Garlic, the largest member of the onion family must also be an herb.

Wikipedia defines herb as: A plant that is valued for it’s flavor, scent, or other qualities.

Based on that definition, I suppose just about everything I grow is an herb.

But there is another reason I chose Garlic this week. September is National Cholesterol Awareness Month, and Garlic is one of six herbs that have been proven to reduce "bad" cholesterol. The other five are all herbs that I have never grown, although I may consider doing so in the future. So far, largely thanks to being fortunate genetically, and eating, by choice and by necessity, a diet that is not heavy in meat, Cholesterol has not been a huge problem for me, (knock on wood, toss some salt over my shoulder, rub a garlic clove, all those other superstitions.) But I know that each year I get less young, and although I hate to admit it, even to myself, I'm just not a teenager anymore. As the years take their toll on me, Cholesterol is something that will be more of a factor, so by taking some basic preventative measures now, maybe I can slow down the sands of time a little and make the next half a century of my life more enjoyable than the last half century.

Garlic is native to central Asia, but its use spread across the world more than 5000 years ago. It was worshipped by the Egyptians and fed to workers building the Great Pyramid at Giza, about 2600 BC. Greek athletes ate it to build their strength. Garlic came to the Western Hemisphere with some of the first European explorers, and its use spread rapidly. In the United States it was first cultivated in New Orleans by French settlers. Missionaries brought it to California, where it is grown today.

Gilroy California is home of the Annual Garlic Festival, the last week of July, where visitors can try everything from Garlic Aspic to Garlic Zucchini. The big winner this year in the garlic cook-off was Spicy Garlic Butter Cookies with Garlic Goat Cheese and Honey. I have never tried these, but have included a recipe below for the brave and adventurous among you.

The word Garlic, near as I can tell comes from the old Anglo Saxon Gar meaning spear and Leac, (leek) . The word Leek, at various times in history has defined not only the plant we know as Leeks today, but also any member of the onion family, and any herb with a grasslike appearance, So Gar-Leek would simply be a spear shaped grass, with bonus points given if it belonged to the onion family.

And it doesn’t hurt to remember that onions are a member of the lily family. Isn’t it neat that our herbs and flowers are all related? Maybe at the Lily Family Reunion, Garlic is like Uncle Bob, the smelly, lumpy one, over in the corner.

But seriously, Garlic, while sometimes getting a bad rap, is one of the most coveted and useful herbs in our garden.


There are three primary types of Garlic. Common Garlic, Hard-Neck Garlic and Elephant Garlic. Of the three, Common Garlic is the most common, hence the name.

Elephant Garlic grows bigger bulbs, but is somewhat lacking in flavor. In fact, one of my sources said it “has absolutely enormous cloves, but has no garlic flavor worth mentioning.” I personally wouldn’t be quite so harsh. I have tried it, and it sort of tastes like garlic, but it certainly is weak garlic.

Of the Common Garlic there are two primary types. Artichoke, and Silverskin.

Artichoke varieties, generally have either very white, or white blushed rose outer skins with a row of decent sized cloves around the outside, and irritatingly smaller, thinner cloves in the interior. These are harder to peel and cook with, but are the ones that lend themselves best to braiding and will keep the best through the winter.

Silverskins have the strongest flavor, and have numerous small cloves. They are very white, with a soft brittle skin which breaks away easily, but provides very little protection in the root cellar.

Hard neck garlic gets its' name from the tough stem that grows up the center of the bulbs. It is usally surrounded by 7-12 cloves and will have very little outside protective layers.

Most garlic used today, and what you find in the grocery store is Softneck Silverskin Common Garlic.



Growing Garlic is incredibly easy. Folklore says that Garlic should be planted on the shortest day of the year. While this may be fine for those in Europe, the ground here is generally frozen in mid December. My mother always planted her Garlic in the fall, and then covered the garden with leaves. This was her way of putting the garden to bed for the winter.

You can buy seed garlic from a nursery or garden shop, if you like to spend a lot of money unnecessarily, but as a general rule, you can just buy it at the grocery store.

The serious gardener will buy several heads of garlic and the pick off only the biggest cloves to plant, using the smaller ones in their own kitchen.

The bigger the clove is when you plant it, the bigger the head of garlic will be when you harvest it.

Plant garlic with the flat end down, and the pointy end up. plant single cloves 4-6" apart in rows about 12" apart. Garlic will work in a container, but keep in mind that the mature plant may well be almost 3' tall, so plan accordingly.

Once you plant it, Garlic is relatively maintenance free. You just leave it alone until it grows and blooms and then, when the plant starts to die off and turn yellow you harvest it.

You can cut the tops off and dry the heads, or, you can braid the tops into an attractive Garlic Braid.

Jane, at The Thrifty Countrywoman, recently wrote a post detailing how to braid onions. Garlic is braided the very same way. You can read Jane's post here.

No matter how you choose to keep your garlic, remember that it is important that it be kept dry, or it will mold.

Once you have an ample supply of garlic laid in, there are all sorts of things you can do with it.

I just want to throw in a few recipes, just to get you thinking:

Garlic Dip

8-10 lrg garlic cloves
1/4 tsp sea salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon or to taste
4 tbl extra-virgin olive oil

Add the garlic and salt to food processor bowl. Process and add oil through the feed tube very slowly. Add lemon juice, again very slowly; process until the mixture is very creamy, like mayonnaise.You MUST add the oil VERY slowly or it won't mix properly. It just ends up being very oily



Spicy Garlic Butter Cookies with Garlic Goat Cheese and Honey:
Makes 20-25 cookies
Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup all-purpose flour (unbleached preferred)
½ tsp cayenne pepper
¼ tsp baking powder
1 stick plus 3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
5 cloves roasted garlic
Topping
3 ounces goat cheese, softened
3 cloves roasted garlic
Honey
Hungarian paprika
Method of Preparation:
Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper in a small bowl.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the cloves of roasted garlic and beat for another minute or until cloves are incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Form dough into an 8″ to 10″ log (approximately 2″ diameter) and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill dough until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut log into 1/8″ to ¼” slices and fill ungreased large baking sheet(s), arranging slices about 1″ apart.
Bake cookies until the edges are golden, approximately 12 minutes. When pulled from heat, immediately indent center of each cookie with the back of a spoon. Cool on the sheets then transfer to wire racks to completely cool.
Meanwhile, combine softened goat cheese and 3 cloves of roasted garlic in a small bowl, combining well.
Once cookies have cooled completely, add a good-sized dollop of garlic goat cheese mixture in the center of each cookie. Drizzle some honey over each, add a dash of Hungarian paprika and serve.

Garlic Soup

26 garlic cloves (unpeeled)
2 tablespoons olive oil


2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
2 1/4 cups sliced onions
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
18 garlic cloves, peeled
3 1/2 cups chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
1/2 cup whipping cream


1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces)
4 lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place 26 garlic cloves in small glass baking dish. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper; toss to coat. Cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake until garlic is golden brown and tender, about 45 minutes. Cool. Squeeze garlic between fingertips to release cloves. Transfer cloves to small bowl.

Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and thyme and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add roasted garlic and 18 raw garlic cloves and cook 3 minutes. Add chicken stock; cover and simmer until garlic is very tender, about 20 minutes. Working in batches, purée soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to saucepan; add cream and bring to simmer. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Rewarm over medium heat, stirring occasionally.)

Divide grated cheese among 4 bowls and ladle soup over. Squeeze juice of 1 lemon wedge into each bowl and serve.



Garlic has a long history of folklore, superstition and magical uses,

In ancient times, people used to eat garlic before making a journey at night. It made them belch and gives one a foul breath. The primitive belief was that evil spirits would not come within the radius of that powerful smell.

German miners took cloves of garlic with them into the mines to ward off evil spirits. It is no wonder that garlic's Sanskrit name means "slayer of monsters".
Throughout other parts of Europe, India, China, Japan and Asia Minor, garlic is used as protection against the evil eye and witchcraft
The Koreans of old ate pickled garlic before passing through a mountain path, believing that tigers disliked it.
According to Islamic tradition, garlic is said to sprout any place where Satan placed his left foot during the time that he was being driven from paradise.

In Cuba, it is believed that if one wears a necklace of 13 garlic cloves for 13 days, jaundice will be cured. In England, nannies used garlic to treat whooping cough by putting it inside children's socks. In parts of Europe, people believe garlic can cure smallpox, leprosy, the plague and other infectious diseases. Also, it is said to prevent dropsy, sunstroke, hysteria and cure intestinal diseases.


Superstition aside, medicinally, Garlic is one of the safest herbs, and as such can be taken often. It does, however, have its drawbacks, as we all know. Bear this in mind when using remedies (especially internal ones), and cut back when family and friends start avoiding you.

Garlic has scientifically-proven medicinal properties. Allicin, has anti-bacterial properties that are equivalent to a weak penicillin. It appears that cooking garlic weakens the anti-bacterial effects considerably, however, so don't count on cooked garlic with meals for much in the way of a curative.

Garlic has been used at times, to treat wounds, ulcers, skin infections, flu, athlete's foot, some viruses, strep, worms, respiratory ailments, high blood pressure, blood thinning, cancer of the stomach, colic, colds, kidney problems, bladder problems, and ear aches, to name a few.

It is believed to cure worms in both people and animals - try giving the dog a clove of garlic daily (good luck, he's not going to like it).

Eating garlic raw is probably the most potent way to take it. However, due to the obvious lingering odors associated with this, a tincture can be made by soaking 1/4 pound of peeled and separated garlic cloves in 1/2 quart of brandy. Seal tightly and shake every day. Strain and bottle after two weeks

There are a variety of various pills, capsules and other garlic preparations available at health food stores. It is important to note that in most cultures where eating garlic has seemed to be beneficial to ones health, it has been raw, untreated garlic that did the trick.

If you like it enough to eat it raw, the odds are good that your health will benefit from it.

Personally, although I don't eat a lot of raw Garlic, I believe that Garlic is a necessary ingredient in just about every dish I make.

It may not make me healthier, but it sure makes the food taste good!