House Capuchin 3

Over the last couple of growing seasons Anja has had a lot of garlic. It started a few years back when one of the farmers at the market gave her a whacking lot of small cloves, of mixed varieties. It was a whole lunch bag for $1. Those were divided and both planted and eaten over that winter, and the next summer’s harvest was a big one. She saved out small cloves and bulbils for planting and those went in during the fall, but the next spring was a nasty one for slugs and snails, so she lost a lot of them. She and Loren put down a lot of slug bait (iron phosphate) and by the end of the season she was getting some harvestable bulbs, but more of the small ones, plus several bulbil heads, and she also canvassed the last farmer’s market for a deal. She got one on shallots. That whole pile was $2…… This is growth, harvest (and aftermath, i.e. cookery!) 2022! We even have some fermented garlic that was gifted to Anja to try!

Some garlic vocabulary

• Bulb – The whole bit with the root plate at the bottom, stem at the top and cloves surrounded by paper.
• Clove – The crescent moon-shaped pieces that separate from the root plate and stem
• Root plate – The roots grow out of this flat bit below the cloves. It gets larger with the bulb.
• Stem – The green part that grows upwards.
• Scapes – The odd, curlicue shapes that include the blossom before it breaks.
• Blossom – The ball of tiny flowers at the end of the stem that break out of the scape when the end of the scape falls away. Sometimes ends up with seeds, but usually with bulbils
• Seed – The pin-head-sized bit that comes from the flowers.
• Bulbil – A bulb in miniature that forms where the flowers were.
• Paper – The papery skin of a dry, cured bulb.
• Curing – the 2-4 week period for allowing the bulb to dry out, espcecially necessary in our climate.

The harvest (early) and growing plants

Stella’s Harvest [needs the pictures, yet!] One of the House members got the opportunity to harvest at a friend’s during October. She came home with a lot of garlic, and prepped and dried, then gave some to Anja for cooking for the House! (more photos to be added…..)

Shallots

Elephant Garlic – This is a variant that creats several large cloves, rather than a multitude of small ones. It’s not quite as pungent in cooking, either.

Garlics – Bulb

Garlics – Bulbils – whozzat? Bulbils are the tiny, more-than-a-seed, bits that form in what looks like a seedhead, and are allowed to grow for a bit. Sometimes they get called “seeds” by people who aren’t familiar with the growth habits.

Garlics – “Seed” garlics or sets – These are tiny! If planted in the spring they often only get to a small size that’s pretty hard to use in cooking, so separating them and letting them grow over the winter or the next year, gets better results.

Planting in November – The entire garden is in buckets and pots. These are pix of the garlics/shallots before being covered wiht a light layer of potting soil. A couple of re-grown leeks are involved in spots.

Cookery

11/4 – Supper casserole – Shallots

11/10 – Roasted garlic butter

• About a cup of peeled garlic cloves
• 2 TBSP butter
• 1 pound butter at room temperature
• 1tsp salt
• (optional)

1. Put the garlics in the smallest oven-safe dish that they’ll fit into.
2. Put 2 TBSP butter on top.
3. Bake at 350F. for about 15-20. They’re done when soft enough to easily stick a fork into.
4. (optional) If using saffron, add to the hot butter in the garlics and let stand for 30 minutes.
5. Add 1/2 the remaining butter to the food processor.
6. Add the roasted garlic & salt and process until distributed.
7. Add the rest of the butter and process until smooth.
8. Mold and fridge/freeze.

11/13 – Pork Roast with apples and shallots

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2-2.5 pound pork loin roast
• Salt
• About 1 cup of peeled, slice shallots (2 large ones, or with ours about 20 garden-grown)
• 1 medium apple (granny smith), cored and sliced 1/4 inch thick.
• 1 cup wine (we had a mix of leftover red and white)

1. Prepare shallots and apple.
2. Put roast into crockpot.
3. Add apple/shallot mix on top.
4. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Cook 3.5-4 hours on high.
6. Check center for temperature. (145-165F, don’t let it go farther than that…)
7. Pull roast,  wrap and fridge.
8. Separate solids from liquid and fridge.
9. Pull grease from top of liquids. (Leftover broth can be used for other sauces.)
10. Slice roast when cold.
11. Make sauce: mush the apple/shallot mix, add about ¼ cup broth (cold) and enough breadcrumbs to thicken. If it gets too dry/lumpy add a little broth.
12. To serve, put several slices in a dish and spoon sauce on top. Zap in the microwave for 1 minute on high.

 

Butters – week of 11/20

Growth since planting

Page created 11/3/22
Last updated 12/4/22