Saturday, August 25, 2012

Garlic cleaning day

I have been very patient. I have waited three weeks or so to take my cured garlic, clean it up a bit and put it into storage. There are two schools of thought with storing garlic. There are the people who clean it so thoroughly, it looks like supermarket garlic. Then there are the people who just wipe off the worst of the dirt and there she goes. I did a combination. I cut the stock and took off only the skin that would rub off. Brushed the worst of the dirt off the roots, trimmed them and...done.
Here is the before.

Here is the after.

I have saved enough cloves to plant 32 of this variety and took two to neighbor Judy as seed for her new garlic plantings this fall. I have ordered a variety called Music that Erica at Northwest Edible Life says is her favorite.

6 comments:

Gardeningbren said...

I have heard good things about Music!!

Your clean garlic look way more clean than mine ;-).

Andrea said...

I love garlic too, my father planted it when we were kids. I plant some once in a while but use it as greens just like using the green onions. My garlic usually becomes hollow before I finish using the cloves. Someone told me to peel them, put in oil or butter in the ref, but am so lazy doing that. I end up having lots going to waste.

Mark Willis said...

That looks like a very neat job you have done! My sense of "order" is impressed...
Cleaning my own home-grown garlic was a very brief affair, due to the smallness of the crop. Having experimented with growing garlic this year, my feeling is that I could definitely do better, and I'll have another go, this time planting in the Autumn rather than in the Spring.

Erin said...

Hi Brenda!! I found a beautiful picture of Music Garlic on Pinterest. Isn't food just so beautiful to look at......and eat. I will be harvesting and eating my first cutting of a fortex beans. I cheated and bought some a couple weeks ago when my organic farmer Dan had some. It was worth waiting 40+ years for.

Erin said...

Do they become hollow when they are old and dry? I am a garlic nut, so I think we will eat it all.

Erin said...

Thank you Mark. My sisters old landlord Jim taught me garlic growing, even thou everything I've read says to plant mid October, Jim said mid September. I put them in on september 15 last year and waited til half of the leaves were yellow. They went further into July than I thought they would, but they were perfect. It has been such an amazing experience. I look at them in their basket, in wonder. Wow, I made that. I bought some glass jars yesterday to put the drying herbs into when they are ready, it feels very good. I have a crookneck almost ready to eat! First one I'll have ever tasted.