Sunday, June 3, 2012

Sewing the Seeds of Garlicky Love

Has it ever occurred to you to try growing your own garlic plant? If not, hopefully this post will plant the seeds. ;)

If at any point you've gone to the store and bought a bulb of whole fresh garlic and forgotten about it on your kitchen counter, then you may have noticed that after a week or so your garlic will start to grow shoots. 

That's right: Your garlic is alive!

Most super markets will keep fresh garlic refrigerated for at least some period of time over the coarse of delivery and storage, and when the garlic is brought out and begins to warm up it thinks that the spring has come and it starts trying to grow.

"So... do I name it, or what?"

Whether or not you want to name your new pet garlic plant is up to you, but at this point you should be thinking to yourself, "Hmmm... if Fred wants to grow, why not let him grow?"

To keep your new friend happy simply plant it in an area without to much direct sunlight, and water it periodically. In a few short months you'll be harvesting your reward of fresh spring garlic, garlic scapes (the curly top buds that form in the springtime, and are DELIGHTFUL) or even try your hand at curing and storing your own garlic. Heck, go out in the back yard and plant a whole row of them so you can make one of those big, fancy wreaths of garlic!

Or you could just curse it for a pipe dream and lightly roast the budding cloves in olive oil over a very low heat until they are as golden and tender as butter (times will vary, just make sure you don't burn them) and then proceed to smear them across a slice of toasted Italian bread.

The choice is yours... as long as you remember that the choice exists for you to make. (Cue "The more you know..." PSA theme)



2 comments:

  1. This is way cool, and I can't wait to try growing my own garlic. I roasted some the other day along with some eggplant and made Baba Ganoush sp?). I was pleasantly surprised at how easy and delicious it was - I have always bought it from a local Middle Eastern Deli. Question, what does macerated mean and when would one do it?

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  2. "Maceration" is the process of softening food or breaking it into pieces by soaking in a liquid. Not to be confused with "marination," which is the process of soaking foods in a seasoned liquid, usually acidic, before cooking. Maceration is usually meant to extract flavors and volatile herbal elements from the item you are soaking rather than infuse the thing you are soaking with elements from the liquid, n'es-ce pas?

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