garlic

Yesterday was garlic harvest time. Around here garlic goes into the garden in the fall.  Mine were planted in October.

The variety that I’ve been using for several years is Chesnok Red.  It’s a great mellow-tasting garlic, prized by chefs, not huge but with evenly sized cloves and a very reliable track record.  It’s a hardneck variety (better for storage), and has a great rich aroma and flavor.  It’s unbelievably mouth-watering when it’s roasted.

I end up using most of my bulbs to feed my pickle-making fetish. But before I use any of it, I single out the biggest healthiest bulbs for next year’s seed stock.

To harvest, I’m generally able to just pull the stalks out like onions, but I know a lot of people recommend using a pitch fork, especially in tougher soil like clay.

I let it dry completely on a wire rack in the barn and then braid the stalks or send it on to the wife for roasting.

Right now our barn smells like a polish deli. And the side benefit is no vampires.