Garlic
Everything has a season. From mayflies to mountains, the only difference is how long. Most plants are easy to spot in the cycle of seasons, but a few special ones run their own race.
Garlic is one such plant. It’s omnipresent in grocery stores, unrefrigerated and self-packaged. When crushed, garlic releases allicin, the pungent compound responsible for its antimicrobial properties (very real) and deterrence of vampires (debatable). Regardless, it’s nature’s magic, which means garlic does have a season. It just marches to its own tune.
The cycle begins in the fall. We plant garlic after the first frost but before the ground freezes, when the soil is cool but still workable. This gives the plants a window of time to establish roots without sprouting. Then they sleep underground until spring.
Mature garlic bulbs, what most of us envision when we think of garlic, are harvested mid-to-late summer. But let’s not forget that garlic is part of the spring harvest, too.
Spring garlic, aka green garlic, is baby garlic. It’s harvested before the bulbs mature. Sweet and mild, it functions like an extra potent scallion. Use the whole plant! It’s great cooked or raw.
Garlic scapes are the flowering stalks of hardneck garlic. They’re tender and iconically curly, like tiny green garden hoses. They’re relatively mild in flavor with a wonderful crunch. Saute, pickle, or blend them raw into pesto, chimichurri, or any other green goop.
Now we’re ready for the bulbs. Counterintuitively, peak harvest is when the plants start to look a little…well, bad. The bottom leaves get brown and the tops fall over. The next step is curing - a monthlong drying process. Curing allows us to store garlic for up to a year (if conditions are cool, dark, and dry). It also concentrates flavor and increases complexity (umami!). Eventually, though, the cloves sprout and the cycle begins again.
One of my favorite ways to treat garlic is roasting whole bulbs. It transforms the sharp cloves into a rich paste. This week we’re using whole roasted garlic to boost the flavor of our miso ranch potato salad with brussels sprouts and treviso. Recipe drops on Friday.
We’re glad you’re cooking with us.
Cheers,
Sten and Mac
Chef Snacks
Cooking Tip
Ramps are fun. Ramps are spring garlic’s wild ephemeral cousin. Like any foraged delicacy, they get a lot of attention from foodies. They show up in the forest for a few weeks every spring and last only a few days once harvested. If you’re lucky enough to live in a region where ramps grow wild (the eastern United States and northern Europe), give them a try. If you’re out west like us, don’t stress. You’ll be very happy with your local green garlic.
