Fresh-pulled Garlic

We pull our garlic plants in June/July. Fresh, “uncured” garlic is moister than the usual “cured” garlic, but can be crushed, baked, diced, etc. just like normal garlic.

Storage

Store your garlic plant in a cool, drafty place, ideally out of direct sunlight. A porch, kitchen or garage is perfect.

You can eat your fresh-pulled garlic whenever you want — even as soon as you’re home from the farmer’s market — but be sure to keep the garlic plant intact until you’re ready to eat the cloves. (As long as the plant is intact, it will continue to dry down: once the leaves and stalk are brittle, you’ll have a “cured” garlic bulb that you can cut off of the plant stalk and store as normal garlic.)

Eating Fresh Garlic

When you’re ready to eat some garlic:

1. Cut the bulb off of the stalk. (The stalk and leaves can be used to flavour soup stock if they’re green enough, but they are tough and often too dry to be useful.)
2. Cut the roots off of the bulb.

If you’re making roasted garlic bulbs, stop here and see below for our recipe. Otherwise, continue:

1. Peel your garlic bulb and be awed by how moist it is: no scratchy paper-like skins to deal with!
2. Make sure you peel the outer wrapper off of each individual clove: it will be easily visible. If you keep this wrapper on, it may get tough once cooked. Early in the season these skins are tender and garlicky, and can be eaten as well as the cloves.
3. Use your garlic cloves as you normally would: crush, roast/bake, mince, etc.
4. Store any unused cloves like you would a cut onion: in an airtight container in the fridge.

Makaria Farm’s Roasted Garlic Bulb Decadence

Roasted garlic is AMAZING. We spread it on bread. You can also add it to mashed potatoes. We roast lots of bulb at once, then keep the extras in the fridge for easy snacks.

1. Cut the top and bottom off of your garlic bulbs (fresh or cured).
2. Place the garlic bulbs into a baking dish.
3. Drizzle olive oil over the bulbs, then season with salt and pepper or whatever you think is tasty.
4. Cover the dish and bake for 45-60 minutes at 350-degrees, until the cloves are soft like butter.
5. Serve with good-quality bread and a spreading knife. Butter is optional.