Garlic question?

[Roy Bham UK]

My first time growing garlic with the exception to elephant garlic that I didn’t like much, so I was wondering if this variety (“Marco Strong Garlic”) looks OK? The stalks are quite rigid as if bolted and the skins disappeared exposing the cloves when I tried to clean them up by removing the soil.

Anyone else growing this variety and have the same problem? Assuming it is a problem. ???

[Roy Bham UK]

[Hyacinth]

Roy, don't panic! Those Marco are a rigid-stalked variety (a b. to plait) so that's OK. Yes, I've lost the outer paper skin from time to time (tho never with so many simultaneously - don't know your own strength, do ya?)..keep the cloves cool, should they start to sprout, remove the green sprout, which will make the clove taste bitter, & suggest you puree and freeze to preserve?

Cheers!

[Jill]

Cor Roy they look good!  Look at all those cloves!  I've got just round, solid, ping pong balls :(

[Roy Bham UK]

suggest you puree and freeze to preserve?

Cheers!

Thanks Guys ;) Lish! I can puree and freeze ;D but B4 I do what quantity per portion ??? or are we talking ice cube trays, covered or uncovered? That is the question? ;D ;D

[tim]

Or freeze the cloves whole?

[Hyacinth]

Roy, I don't know; just repeating what I've read here. Have a go at freezing one whole clove (peeled, Tim?) as Tim suggests & see how it turns out? Otherwise, ask in recipes?

[Roy Bham UK]

Thanks again Guys, ;)  I think I'll go for Tim's 'freeze the cloves whole' a much easier option, although I always thought garlic had a long shelf life. :)

[Hyacinth]

Marco's a good keeper, Roy, so I wouldn't be in a hurry to freeze....just if they start to sprout?

[Robert_Brenchley]

Those are fine, just keep them cool and dry. If you grow them again, store them in bunches with the stems tied together, and hang them up somewhere cool and dry. Take off flowerheads as they appear; they're considered a delicacy in some places.

[jennym]

When you say what quantity per portion Roy, depends how many are eating and what you're doing with them I suppose.
To add to a large pan of stir-fried veg, I normally coarsely chop all the cloves from one garlic.
To add to an omelette, maybe a couple of cloves finely chopped.
To pig out on it on my own, fried on its own in butter, on a Friday night, maybe the cloves from six whole garlic bulbs  ;D

[budgiebreeder]

Not to forget Garlic is wonderful pickled.

[tim]

Shelf life - yes - but without the 'skins'........??

[Curryandchips]

I would tend to go for freezing the individual cloves, then you can measure out your requirement just as you would normally. As jennym has already commented, it depends so much on what your kitchen requirements are. As for myself, there is no point in freezing it, as it will never get a chance to go off in our house. Something I have always wanted to do when I get an 'excess' of garlic, is to cook garlic soup ... Elizabeth David's recipe started I recall, with 'take 15 heads of garlic ...

[grawrc]

On that theme, Curry, I have a French recipe for "Poulet 40 gousses d'ail"!! Tastes delish I hasten to add.

Roy I grew Marco as well this year. It has very strong, rigid stalks which produced their own mini bulbils as well as the roots. In fact I had to soak the stalks and knead them to be able to plait the bulbs together. I was following DJBrenton's advice for plaiting: http://www.bloomingfieldsfarm.com/garbrdhow.html so I only removed 2 layers of skin at most. I had more problems with Thermidrome. I think I had left them to dry for too long so some of the skins had gone already. As you can see from the photo (Marco left Thermidrome right) some of the Thermidrome ones look a bit like your Marco ones. I'm not too worried about storage times as we eat mountains of garlic.

I have quite a few loose cloves left over. Some I will use for next year's planting and the others I'll freeze. I'll probably scrunch them up and fill ice cube trays with them so I can just add a couple of ice cubes' worth to whatever I'm cooking.
At the moment they're lying on the kitchen worktop (along with several stone of early potatoes) :-[ :-[and if I don't get rid of them soon I'll be getting a row from the chief cook and bottle washer!! ::) ::) :o

[tim]

What a lovely sight!

[Curryandchips]

On that theme, Curry, I have a French recipe for "Poulet 40 gousses d'ail"!! Tastes delish I hasten to add.

Sounds heavenly ... I reckon I would know my true friends after eating that !

[Roy Bham UK]

Wow thanks for the response, :o  I’m not a big eater of garlic at home, don’t get me wrong as I do enjoy curries, balti’s etc: :)  but after reading your replies and me having a decent first harvest, it’s got me thinking that I should be expanding my cooking skills.

Maybe I won’t have to freeze so much after all. :)

Watch this space.  ;D