It’s always a bit disappointing when something doesn’t grow to plan, especially when there is a big investment of time and money and my hand injury makes everything that much more of a challenge. But the garden is a great teacher. See my first blog post called Garlic Harvest 2021 #1 where I share garlic growing tips and troubleshoot what I can learnt from this years harvest.

Harvesting and preparing the garlic to eat:

Not wanting to waste anything, Michael and I harvested the garlic, trimmed off the roots and cut the stalk where it still looked the most tender. Past experience has taught us that a harder stalk can turn quite tough in the pan when cooked.

Inside, we washed the garlic,  peeled off the soft outer layers, cut off the base, cut the “bulb” in half and removed the stalk.

The garlic then went into the blender, blitzed,  bagged and put in the freezer.

I’ll let the photos explain better.

Tips:

Blend the garlic to an almost minced consistency, it will cook better and you won’t be left with chunks of garlic to chew on.

We will use this garlic in meals that have a sauce like, liquid base for the garlic to soften in while it cooks. Think currys, stews and slow cooker meals.

I’m not sure how much of this garlic to use per meal. From experience the freezer can lessen the garlic taste a little. I’ve never eaten this type of garlic before and after it was blender I was surprised at how pungent it was, a very peppery smell. I’ll start small and can easily add more garlic to a dish if it needs it.

I hope this has helped. There are plenty of gems to take away to help you on your homesteading journey and preserving the harvest.  It’s important for me to share honestly and that definitely includes the productive and not so productive crops.

Hope you are doing ok.

Sending Love, Jude