Garlic grows in a bulb containing many separate cloves. The cloves are covered in a paper thin skin that is removed and discarded before use.
Preparation
Garlic can be used both cooked and raw. It can be roasted or sauteed. If there is a green sprout in the center of your garlic clove, simply remove it and continue.
Garlic has a very strong odor due to sulfur compounds, but that is what makes it so good for us. Eating garlic with fresh parsley may reduce any mouth odor, or better yet, share garlic with the people around you and it won’t matter! A tip for removing the garlic smell from hands or cutting boards is a fresh lemon. Simply cut a lemon in half and rub it all over the area, then wash with soap and water as usual.
A fun and helpful tool to use in the kitchen is a garlic press, worth the investment, in our opinion.
Varieties
There are many varieties of garlic, the most popular are white garlic, pink garlic, and giant or elephant garlic.
Storage
Garlic stores very well and likes the dark. It will remain plump on your counter top for a couple of months, but if you place it in the refrigerator it will keep for up to 7 months! (Jess keeps her bulbs in a cool dark area in news paper, unless it’s the summer garlic with long stems, in which case the stems are loosely braided and the garlic hung by the stems in the pantry closet. Bulbs are then snipped off as needed.)
Nutrition
Vitamin C, selenium, potassium, and calcium
Garlic has been valued as a health protector for thousands of years, and for good reason! Modern medicine has shown that garlic has a powerful effect at boosting the immune system, aids in cardiovascular health, and fighting cancer.
That’s right my Springdell friends, today we caramelize. Cut the whole head of garlic and make sure each clove is exposed, take off most of the papery outside at this time.
Drizzle led the garlic with olive oil and wrap that sucker up.
Put the wrapped garlic into a preheated 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes.
This is a little piece of heaven. You literally squeeze the garlic out and put it in just about anything. I have made roasted garlic dips,in even added it into the chili I made Sunday night.
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Spring Garlic is a different beast from the garlic above. These are the smaller garlic bulbs thinned out of the farmer’s row to make room for the hardiest bulbs to grow larger.
Don’t fear the turnip! This is a great side for all kinds of savory dishes. If making this during the fall season, toss a crisp diced apple into turnips during the last 5 minutes of cooking for a welcome sweet crunch. If it’s the summer season, forego the apple and use the thyme.
This is delicious for avocado lovers, sushi lovers, CSA adventure lovers. For the vegan version, leave out the pea tendrils, garlic and crabmeat. For the salad version, leave out the sheets of nori. Let your taste buds sail with the fresh and yummy flavors of the land and sea.
I concede that slow cooking collard greens next to a piece of meat for hours is an amazingly delicious way to enjoy them, and totally worth the time involved. A side product is a soup base for other recipes, so it’s like preparing two meals in one! Kale, Chard, or Mustard greens (or any combo therein) can easily stand in for the collards.