Garlic Planted, Cilantro Re-Seeded, Baby Pumpkin, Me and Roselle, Brining

Dear Folks,

The rain yesterday did two things in my gardens, settled in the garlic I planted on Saturday, October 1st and saved us a watering day.

We got nearly a half inch which means the gardens are nice and wet and do not need the scheduled watering.  Pictured is a clove Elephant Garlic being planted.  Beside that clove are regular garlic ready to be planted.  Plant garlic cloves with the pointy side up.  This will be the center stalk from which the mature head of cloves comes from.

The Allium family includes onions, chives, shallots, garlic, leeks and elephant garlic.  The familiar common Garlic is Allium sativum, while Elephant Garlic is Allium ampeloprasum.   Elephant Garlic is actual a form of leek - on steroids!  It has a milder flavor compared to common garlic's strong, even zingy flavor.

Both grow well here in the valley.  If it looks like I planted too close together -- I did on purpose.  I planted 39+ cloves of common garlic and 8 of the Elephant type.  I always plant extra by planting 3-4 inches apart, so I have "green garlic" to harvest like scallions through the fall/winter/spring.  This delicious addition to your cooking ingredients is a "scallion" only with garlic flavor instead of onion.  Harvest when the greens are about 8-10 inches tall and the clove has swollen slightly.  You can replace with another garlic clove to continue the harvest capability.   Instead, by harvesting every other plant as I need during the cool times, the space between widens allowing more room for each clove to grow to head size.

In April start watching for the plant to send up its flower stalk, called a Scape, it's spiral growth continues and you cut them off when they reach the height of the leaves -- this year it was early May.  Scapes are an edible delicacy only available about 1-2 weeks a year.  Once the Scape is cut off, watch for the leaves to begin turning yellow, about 2-3 weeks later.  This is harvest time. 

Gently dig each plant out, brush off the dirt and hang to dry in a shaded area in the garden or patio.  When the outside skin turns papery it is ready to store.  You can use the green tops as you would scallion tops.  Even the hard center stalk can be used to flavor broths, stews, soups and then removed at serving time.

From the aromatic to the gorgeous, this is my Roselle Hibiscus sabdariffa, now reaching taller than me and beginning the flowering stage moving toward harvest of the gorgeous lemony/cranberry flavored Caylx.  The entire plant is edible.  I've been using the leaves in place of lettuce with their tangy flavor.  While the caylx is known for its high Vitamin C component (if you see "hibiscus" or "red hibiscus" as an ingredient in teas - this is the plant), the leaves also have vitamin C as do the flowers.

Meanwhile, my Cilantro re-seeded and I spotted the new seedlings last week.

I love my gardens.  Many of my favorite plants freely re-seed coming back year after year.  Successive generations of seed is "regional adaptation" at its best.  The seeds which come up naturally are the strongest in your garden.

For this reason I urge you to direct sow if you can.  All of the seeds may not come up, but those which do will be the hardiest.

I am excited about the prospect of an heirloom pumpkin.  I have baby pumpkins on the vine, which has a mind of its own and has spilled out of the raised bed and ranging towards the trees.  I am going to let it roam and just try to keep it out of harm's way while it, hopefully, produces "Upper Ground Sweet Potato Pumpkin" reported to taste like sweet potato and once grown in Thomas Jefferson's gardens at Monticello.

In an "inspired" moment I decided to sow the pumpkin seeds in with the sweet potato, because the SP provided some "nurse" shade to the seed area.  It worked nicely as you can see a bed of sweet potato and pumpkin vines.   I hope to be harvesting pumpkin and sweet potatoes for Thanksgiving.

And, finally I decided to brine more of the Caper buds and berries and have set them to 'work' on the counter.  This is a fermentation brine with no vinegar and when I tried it for the first time, the buds turned out great but the berries not so much because I waited to long to pick them.  This time I picked the berries younger.  What I am looking for is that the berry seeds had not matured turning dark, and that I picked the berry while the seeds are white and immature.  The dark seeds proved to be very bitter, while the berry it self was tasty but not worth eating.  We shall see.  I want to be ready for next spring when the plants start budding and begin a large fermentation jar where I will pick buds regularly adding to my caper version of the old fashioned pickle barrel.  The food you are brining needs to be held completely covered under the liquid so I have a pickle weight wrapped in cheese cloth and tied with a string to allow me to lift and re-position any that rise to the top.  I have a light plastic food cover over it (not seen in the picture) to keep dust off, but allow any bubbles to escape.

That is all for today, folks.  I am always happy to answer questions.

Be sure to check out my youtube channel where I post short videos with helpful tips.

Have a great week in your fall garden!



-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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25 Days of Herbs and Celebrations - December 17

Dear Folks,


Celebrating the Multicultural festivities of December, I thought I would pick an herb or spice which is referenced in the Bible (land of three of the Major Religions of the world) and used in many cuisines around the entire world, as a way of gathering together all the wealth of diversity around us - in true celebration.

Day 17

Herb:  Garlic (Allium sativum) Numbers 11:5 “"We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,”

Garlic, elephant garlic bulbettes and elephant garlic

Both regular garlic (Allium sativum) and elephant garlic (Allium empeloprasum) are members of the onion family.  Elephant garlic is not actually a "garlic" but rather a Leek on Steroids, and has a milder (some think too mild) garlic flavor.  You can't see the leaves in the picture, but they are 'strappy' like leek and could be used to flavor foods.  In fact, even the stalk and leaves of either plant, which are generally disposed of after harvest, can be used to flavor soup, stews, and broths.

Other “named” garlics are Garlic Chives, aka Asian or Chinese Chives, Allium tuberosum, and Society Garlic, Tulbaghia violacea.  Garlic Chives like onion chives are grown for their leaves and flowers to be used in cooking and has a milder garlic flavor.  Society Garlic is a totally different plant family and is grown for its beautiful orchid like flowers and leaves in cooking.  Society Garlic is said to have the Anti-Garlic affect on your breath.

End of my harvest after "curing."

Garlic is best known for its edible cloves contained in a ‘head’ which have from 6/8 and up to 14 cloves depending on the variety grown.

Garlic has long been known for its health benefits dating back to 2000 BC and Galen eulogized it as the "rustic's theriac" (cure-all) – wikipedia

Garlic has antimicrobial properties and has been suggested for use, and researched in issues like cholesterol, cardiac, cancer and the common cold.

And it makes many foods taste wonderful, which is why the ancient Jews lamented the lack of them in their food!

Planting:

We plant garlic October 1-31^st in the desert garden do ensure enough winter chill to form the heads in April.

But a lesser known type of growth is ‘green garlic’ where the young plant is pulled, similar to an onion scallion and the whole bulb and green tops are used to provide a mild garlic flavor in cooking.

In the desert garden you can plant the cloves now through mid-February, every 2-3 weeks, to provide a continuous crop of Green Garlic to your kitchen.

Recipes:

Herbed Butter

     Herbed butters, so called "compound butters" because they mix herbs and spices with butter and occasionally oil, are an excellent way to add flavor to your holiday cooking.
     All fresh herb butters should be refrigerated and used within 5-7 days.  Can be frozen as a log and sliced and used when needed.

1 stick of softened butter
1 teaspoon of chopped Garlic
1 teaspoon of chopped parsley
1 teaspoon of chopped celery leaves
     Blend well. Spread mixture in a long "tube" on wax paper, roll and store in the refrigerator.  Cut slices for use.
     Uses: use in mashed potatoes or on top of baked potatoes, top steamed vegetables, herb toasted bread, slide chilled slices under the skin of poultry, place a small pat on just grilled steak, or place a small slice in center of crescent roll dough before rolling up and baking.
     A Better Butter can be made my blending (your blender will work better with this than a food processor) equal parts of olive or avocado oil and softened butter, to which the herbs can be added.  This creates a sweeter, spreadable butter mixture.

Roasting Whole Garlic Heads

Most Preferred: Slice off the tippy top of the garlic head to expose just a small part of each clove. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the cut top.
1) Roast on the grill on indirect heat for approximately 40-45 minutes - squeeze to test (don't burn yourself!) - it should feel softened.
2) Oven: at 400 degrees for 45 minutes.

Second Most Preferred: Separate the clove from the head and do NOT not peel. Toss in along side of any roast you are cooking, or place in a single layer in a pan and oven back at 400 degrees for approximately 25 minutes - squeeze to see if they have softened.

Roasting garlic mellows the flavor, bringing an incredible nutty taste to it. Squeezing the pulp from the skins is the easiest way to express the roasted garlic out. Add to mashed potatoes, spread on toasted bread with or without added tomatoes, basil and cheese, add to salad dressing and sauces.

Freeze in air tight container for long term storage. Refrigerate and use within a week for short term keeping.

 

Music:

Mistletoe and Holly

Frank Sinatra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WFsr4gRlow

 

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town

Bruce Springsteen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYIVYxZOWwo

 




-- Catherine, The Herb Lady

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