My Bountiful harvest of Garlic and what to do with it....

I planted several pounds of garlic for my use and for farmers markets this past year. Now that the season is over I still have quite a bit of garlic left in my basket, so I got out my garlic slicer from pampered chef, the dehydrator, a knife and started peeling the paper off the cloves. WHEW! Does my house smell fragrant ...and it doesn't smell like cookies or bread...just garlicky!


( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )



( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )



( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )



( photo / image / picture from carolyn keiper's Garden )


I think there is enough left in the basket to do another 12 trays of sliced and dehydrated garlic PLUS the nice bulbs that I didn't choose for slicing. Maybe I will roast those and use them as a spread for Christmas.


Do you have any great garlicky recipes? I have lots of garlic yet.

 

I would dice it all and freeze it in quart size baggies.

So if you have too much just pack them in a box and send them to me.......



I am getting low on my frozen stuff. I will go to my local farmers market next week and buy all that I can, like 50 or 60 will do me...

 

Yummmm! I love garlic.... how wonderful it must be to have such a fresh supply on hand.

 

Carolyn, I roast garlic by cutting off the very top of the heads, putting them in a shallow pan with olive oil on the bottom (just enough to cover) and then drizzling extra virgin olive oil on top of the cut heads and sprinkling very lightly with sea salt, then roasting in the oven at 350 for about 35-45 minutes (it depends on the kind of garlic and the size of the heads).
Then, when they are cooled, I squeeze out the cloves and mix them with softened unsalted butter. This makes a chunky garlic butter that is fantastic on toasted French bread rounds, or to use in cooking. The big advantage to the chunky garlic butter is that it can be frozen for up to three months! I make logs of it wrapped in wax paper and then placed in a freezer bag. Just cut off whatever amount you need, and return the rest to the freezer!

 

Barb, I wish I had a few customers like you....most of my customers take ONE bulb. I am happy to sell one," but my goodness, then what are you going to use? store bought stuff from China?" is my thought process afterwards. One? I use one bulb for one meal here. Kevin can't eat onions, but garlic doesn't bother him.... Well, anyway, enough of that rant, I guess. I hadn't thought of freezing it, though. I will probably dry it all. I probably wouldn't think about getting it out of the freezer (forget is a good word).

Cheryl, can't you grow garlic there? A couple bulbs can make a decent amount of garlic for a family to use.

Jane, That sounds delicious. I was thinking along those lines for our family Christmas dinner for a cracker spread.

Thanks.

 

Super harvest....what's wrong with those Ohioans--don't they like garlic? hahaha.
As for its use--I like garlic so much that I can say with all honesty that I have never had it a way that I didn't like.

 

I can practically smell your garlic right now being sauteed, they smell so good. Oops!!! Becky is doing that right now and the aeroma is just fantastic, yummie, yummie!!!

Carolyn I'll definitely grab all your garlic if I were ever come to the farmers market and Barb can I ask her for some too!!! We buy garlic by the Kilos here and in a month we need about a kilo or more. It would be very strange to see someone buying just a bulb.

We do not peel our garlic and prepare them for freezing. We just leave them in a basket whole and when needed, we just crush a couple of pips with the knife blade and then seperate the paper from the yummie stuff. This way we can enjoy the full aeroma of those yummie stuff!!! YUM!!!

 

Wow, I never would have thought of that. I shall do some that way next time I get some. That should be next Monday.

 

KK, Do you just keep them fresh or do you freeze them with their paper on them? I at first thought that you froze them with the paper and then I thought, well that doesn't make sense as the garlic keeps very well sitting in a basket for many months, at least for me, anyway.

 

Waiting for KK Ng to answer carolyn keiper to see if waretrop did a silly thing again.

waretrop always misreads things or misunderstands little things and makes her feel and look silly.. She has been like that all her life. I don't know why it happens.

*laughs at herself all the time*

 

Barb, I don't think you are silly. I read it and thought that at first, too. Many times I read or hear information and process it differently than the exact same thing my husband just read or heard mars vs. venus?

 

Carolyn... yes it can be grown here. Hubby is the one with the veggie garden... I just play with the flowers.
But you've got me thinking, I could always plant a little in the flower beds... maybe some onions too. :idea:

 

You can just separate the cloves and throw them in a quart freezer bag and freeze. Don`t even have to peel unless you want to. As long as they stay dry and cool they will last 3 months on the counter top in a bowl. A few may sprout a little but I just chop the little green sprouts too when I use them. And by the time they sprout,, its almost time to plant.

 

i too have an abundance of garlic this year. i'm going to dehydrate a bunch like you mentioned carolyn, and i'm going to try pickling some for the first time ever.

i like that garlic slicer you have. will have to check it out.

have any of you ever tried the two bowl method to separate the garlic from its skin? works great, but is very noisy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0d3oc24fD-c

 

The only place I've seen so much garlic is aisle 20 of the grocery store. Even there, there is not that much. Pounds? Own use?.........I think I need more recipes that use garlic. I wonder what I get if I put garlic in the search engine? g....a.....r....l....i...c return. Read.......Read.......interesting........Really?.....Toxic for cats and dogs....g....a....r....l....i....c r....e...c....p..i...e return O.K. Lots of recipes. Perhaps enough to buy two garlic bulbs at the grocery store next time.


Jerry