July is garlic month here at the CobraHead test kitchen and garden. For the past 30-plus years,
Noel has planted 100 cloves of garlic at the end of October, and the nice fat bulbs are ready
to harvest in mid-July the following year.
After harvesting the garlic and knocking off most of the soil, we lay them on tables in the
garage to cure. You can also hang them in bunches. After about a week, we transfer
them to tables in the basement. The garage can get pretty hot in the summer heat, and
we don’t want them to dry out and poof away.
After about a month, I cut off the roots and stem, leaving about 2-3 inches of stem. My
storage system is a three-tiered hanging metal basket(s) hung from the basement
staircase. The bulbs last about a year, though they do start to sprout. The sprouts
are edible, but I usually remove them because they can get a little bitter. Apparently, you can freeze
the peeled garlic, but I have never tried that.
Roasted Garlic
Last night I decided to roast a few of the new bulbs.
Recipe:
4 whole garlic bulbs (or more if you desire)
Olive oil
Wash the bulbs and remove the extra papery layers. Cut off the excess roots with a
knife to make a flat surface, taking care not to cut into the cloves. Turn the bulb on its
side and cut about ¼” off the top so all the cloves are exposed.
Pour about 1 T. olive oil into an appropriately sized baking dish, rub the oil all over the
bulbs and cover the dish with foil. Bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees. Remove foil,
cool and serve with slices of toasted French bread. The softened garlic can be
removed with a small knife or fork or just squeezed out.
Roasting does sweeten the garlic. If you prefer the raw pungent taste of garlic try this
appetizer:
Equal parts of:
Minced raw garlic
Minced calamata olives
Good olive oil
The quantities are totally up to you. Just mix the garlic and olives together and place on
a shallow serving dish. Pour the olive oil over the mix and let stand for a while to let the
flavors blend. Serve with a crusty sliced baguette. (Be sure to refrigerate any leftovers
and use within a week or less.) Bon Appétit!
Drying Garlic