# My garlic harvest



## derek78

All done! I have them bundled and curing in the basement. Tine to look up some recipes.


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## lilmissy0740

Looks good! Any recipe with garlic is good!


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## derek78

Elephant garlics


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## mdprepper

Try this recipe, very YUMMY!!!!!!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chicken-with-40-cloves-of-garlic/


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## derek78

That does sound good. Ill have to try that. Gonna give roasting and spread on bread a try too


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## mdprepper

I cut the top off of the bulb of garlic and drizzle it with olive oil and roast it. Squeeze the bulb when done and smear the garlic on the bread. HEAVENLY!!! I also take a pork roast and poke holes in it and push a clove of garlic in each hole. Either slow roast it in the oven or put it in the pressure cooker. My family then fights over the slices with the garlic (or they sneak in and dig the garlic out ).


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## partdeux

I pulled a bunch of garlic last year and couldn't do anything with it... so I put it in some oil and put it in the freezer. PERFECT for pizza crust!


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## lilmissy0740

partdeux, is it watery then? What kind of oil did you use? Never heard of this.


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## Emerald

partdeux said:


> I pulled a bunch of garlic last year and couldn't do anything with it... so I put it in some oil and put it in the freezer. PERFECT for pizza crust!


you have to be very careful with garlic and oil.. 
Botulism
This is probably the most serious risk associated with garlic. Its sulfurous nature makes it a prime breeding ground for botulism (clostridium botulism). Botulism is a nasty toxin that can result in major stomach illness sometimes leading to death.

The worst danger from botulism comes if raw garlic is stored in oil at room temperature - or even for too long in the refrigerator. Never store raw garlic in oil at room temperature.

Bad way to go..


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## UniqueOldGal

I dedicated a raised bed last Fall and grew garlic for the first time, finally!, and will never be without it again! My early pink was dried for two weeks outside on the porch (shade but warm and dry worked perfectly),then I cut off the stalks at one inch and bagged 'em in mesh I'd saved. My late hotter garlic is almost ready and I'll braid it and hang it since it's softneck. Yeah!We Love it in every soup,stew and stir fry!


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## partdeux

Emerald,

Did you miss the FREEZER part of the statement?


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## Emerald

partdeux said:


> Emerald,
> 
> Did you miss the FREEZER part of the statement?


NO I DID NOT! Raw garlic in oil is bad bad bad news.. I don't care if you freeze it.. every time you pull it out to use it you run the risk of the spores becoming active. Even cooked garlic oil has to be refrigerated and have no pieces of garlic in it. Even if you have been doing it for years it is like playing Russian roulette.. it only takes once. Would you not follow proper procedures for canning?
the only safe way to use raw garlic in olive oil is if you put it in and then cook with it that same day. 
Sun dried tomatoes are just as poisonous if stored in oil.
The commercial products have been treated specially with other chemicals to make them botulism free, or have been salted or even acids like citric acid. 
This was a big part of the food handling course I took. Also how I learned about the enzymes and how to process foods for freezing and dehydrating. Most times if you do it wrong all you get is bad tasting foods.. but certain things are silent/smell free/taste free killers. 
I don't want you to think I am picking on you or anything but someone reading that you put raw garlic in oil and missed the "freezer" part could easily kill themselves and others. Oil and garlic is a classic combo.. but to make it ahead of time is a huge no-no in restaurants. That is due to the danger in it. I would be as remiss not mentioning this as anyone one of us not telling a new member who is just learning to can that you have to pressure can green beans. It seems that, that conversation was just had here. 
To make me feel better I would request that you take your garlic and your oil and "bake" them in the oven for an hour on low(about 300F) let cool and drain the garlic and use it up in something and then freeze your oil.. Done that way the oil is safe for about 2 weeks in the fridge.. never leave it out on the counter for too long. Any garlic left in your oil can harbor botulism spores and turn your golden garlic oil into poison rather quickly. Now if you are going to use it all in a week you would probably be safe with the garlic in the oil in the fridge.


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## partdeux

Emerald,

Everything I had read previous to this post was that freezing was acceptable. Thank you for the heads up.


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## Immolatus

Now that Im sufficiently freaked out...
Thanks for the heads up!


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## Emerald

partdeux said:


> Emerald,
> 
> Everything I had read previous to this post was that freezing was acceptable. Thank you for the heads up.





Immolatus said:


> Now that Im sufficiently freaked out...
> Thanks for the heads up!


I'm sorry guys.. I didn't want to freak you out totally.. some ways of making garlic oil are okay but it has to be done right. 
I've done some iffy things before and learned the hard way by a trip the the ER to have my stomach pumped. I only ate a little but got really sick(cured my venison the wrong way once, then studied up on why you shouldn't use too much cure on your meats).
Between the classes on food handling and wanting to maybe become a real Chef I have borrowed and read and searched and read and read and read.. Plus my own food additive allergies. I would just rather be on the safe side than the dead side..  
I'd miss all my prepper friends. :kiss:


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## derek78

I probably wont try to preseve much. I plan on roasting, cooking with and giving a bunch out to friends and neighbors. So oil is out for me. Thanks everyone.


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## Emerald

derek78 said:


> I probably wont try to preserve much. I plan on roasting, cooking with and giving a bunch out to friends and neighbors. So oil is out for me. Thanks everyone.


Just make sure to save enuf good big heads to plant this September/October for next year.. that is the good thing about garlic.. you don't have to hold it over the winter to plant for next year. I wish more stuff was plant in the fall and harvest the next year.


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## Salekdarling

I LOVE garlic.

Wish makes me wonder WHY I never attempt to grow it. :scratch: Great pictures! Thanks.


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## twiggie

I tried to grow garlic and had limited success. I never pulled up anything that looked like a proper head, it all formed a little onion like bulb. I left one in the ground and it looks like it's top setting.


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## partdeux

Found this extension service article on freezing


> Freezing does not destroy Clostridium botulinum, the spoilage organism that causes the greatest problem in canning low acid foods like vegetables and animal products. However, Clostridium botulinum will not grow and produce toxin (poison) at correct freezer temperatures (0 degrees Fahrenheit or below). Therefore, freezing is a safe and easy alternative to pressure canning low-acid foods.
> *source*


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## partdeux

I pulled up some garlic today for the pickles. Some were small bulbs, others were larger and more developed. Would garlic continue to grow into a second year and maybe I pulled up one and two year growth?


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## derek78

If u leave it in the ground, the following year u will get a cluster of garlic from that one u left. Downside is that they will be so close together they will be tiny or they might not form cloves.


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## Emerald

partdeux said:


> Found this extension service article on freezing


I've said my piece on garlic and oil. Garlic and oil is a whole different category than low acid freezing. It is still an unsafe practice to put raw garlic in oil unless using it that day.. RAW Garlic is the problem. in the no air environment it is a huge playground for Clostridium botulinum. Now pureeing or chopping the garlic and just freezing it would not have the same inherent dangers as garlic in oil does.. (there.. not gonna







anymore)

Now on growing garlic.. the hard-necked types make these little scapes full of tiny little bulb-lets that if you work it well can make full sized garlic bulbs in two seasons.
I make a nice rich bed that has some good compost and I sprinkle those baby bulb-lets on top and let them grow out one season.. I plant them in the fall and then when you see the little baby plants going dry/brown then I dig them and they look like one fat round clove(almost like an onion) I cure them and then make another nice bed in the fall and plant them out and the next July they look like normal bulbs with the separate cloves like the the store. Once you get them big like that then each fall you can plant out the separate cloves and get full sized bulbs the next year.

I've bought up Halloween decoration big wreaths of garlic on sale and planted them out as late as early November and ended up with nice big beds of softneck garlic. but around here I do sometimes get a few that end up with some kind of rot/spot.. they do not last as long in storage for me.

I also have several beds of what I call Perennial garlic and it is just the garlic that my great grand mother brought over from Germany and it is a hard neck and it grows wild and makes the top little bulb-lets. I let the areas go wild and procreate there willy nilly and when I want to refresh my beds of garlic I just do what I described up above. But I leave those beds all alone.
I have a separate area with another kind of hard neck garlic that grows completely wild near here along the roads.. I harvested the little bulb-lets and grew them out for two years and it is a nice hot and spicy hardneck with purple paper on it. it is a bit different than the one my gran brought with her. 
I've also missed them at harvest time and they do exactly what derek78 said they will.. they will be very small clusters.. but I took them and just cured them up and planted out the next year and they go back to being nice big bulbs with nice cloves in them.
In the winter I've had some sprout on me and I just plop them into some potting mix and cut the growing greens like you would green onions and chives.


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## siletz

partdeux said:


> I pulled up some garlic today for the pickles. Some were small bulbs, others were larger and more developed. Would garlic continue to grow into a second year and maybe I pulled up one and two year growth?


If you left the whole garlic head in the ground, each clove would make a new plant for next year and they'd be all bunched together and wouldn't have room to make much of anything usable. I would just select some of the biggest and best looking garlic and set those aside to replant the cloves this fall. Then, use up all the others to cook with.


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## SurvivorBoy1

Emerald,
Do you have a suggestion for a good reliable vacuum food saver. I'm just learning to use one and I want to buy one to last for years and works well. Thank you


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## Emerald

SurvivorBoy1 said:


> Emerald,
> Do you have a suggestion for a good reliable vacuum food saver. I'm just learning to use one and I want to buy one to last for years and works well. Thank you


They no longer make my exact model number but it is pretty much this one here.

http://www.foodsaver.com/product.aspx?pid=253
I bought it at Sams club with their package. it came with two canisters and the wide mouth adapter and I think two or three rolls.. when I got mine it was $118.
I've heard bad/poor reviews about their new upright types. Just go to amazon and read all the reviews before settling on a make or model. 
While I use amazon quite often to purchase things I really do quite a bit of my research for things there. sure quite a few of the reviews are worthless(as in they don't follow directions or just say.. I love it or hate). it has helped me make up my mind about all kinds of things that I wanted to pick up.


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## cannedbacon

A few of ours from last year. We have about 130 plants in for harvest in 14'.


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## PrepN4Good

Wish I knew ya'lls secret...I've failed miserably every time i've tried (both up north & down south).


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## crabapple

derek78 & everyone else.
How is your Garlic doing now?


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## DundeePrepper

I've been trying new plants and planting methods in my garden this year and garlic made the cut! I'm really excited to see how it will come out because I planted four cloves from a nice, sweet variety that I bought from a local farmer. They've been in the ground about since about September and are only about 6" tall. Is that good, bad, or average? I really want it to go well my first time around!


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## Gians

DundeePrepper, I wouldn't stress about how high the garlic is now, if it's up and growing, you're on your way. My Noni gave me some nice medium sized red garlic back in the 80's and I save some of the better looking ones from each harvest to keep the line going. It's the best thing around for warding off the flu and vampires  always make sure the wife or gf eats some too.


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## crabapple

I planted about 400 cloves of garlic this past Fall & I am going to plant a few more in Spring.I have Blossom, China Stripe,Estonian Red, Fish Lake,Italian Mountain Red,Korean Mountain, Chinese Red & White.
But of the twenty some varieties, my favorite is a hot spicy garlic called Georgian Fire.

I plant Garlic in a raised bed 1" deep in 8-12" of tilled soil, 6" apart in plots per variety. Dust the bed with blood mill & compost & mulch with oak leaves.


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## DundeePrepper

Gians, I'm actually the gf. Lol. My bf will occasionally help me outside and supports my prepping but the actual building, planting, and doing is all me. We can't wait for our garlic though! It should be ready to harvest about the time I have to cull the rabbit herd.


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## Gians

DundeePrepper said:


> Gians, I'm actually the gf. Lol. ....


Oh oops 

I like to toast up some French Bread in the oven after slicing it down the middle, then after it gets a little crusty, I rub the garlic all over the bread while its still warm, then butter it. It can be quite powerful :eyebulge: but very yummy.


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