I do believe you are safe from the vampire-zombie invasion!

Wow! Jealous of all that goodness.
I tried that 'shake' method and it did not work. I saw it demonstrated in a Saveur video recently. (love that Saveur kitchen!). I shook the dickens out of it, i swear...i sweared.

Here is a link that might be useful: peeling garlic

This post was edited by sleevendog on Mon, Jan 13, 14 at 8:25

I tried to grow garlic last year. You've had far greater success than I did. Enjoy your harvest, Annie!

Fabulous harvest! This is certainly the encouragement I need to put some garlic in the ground. Thanks.

Cathy, I distinctly remember you bringing dehydrated garlic with you on a visit, so I do know you grew it in the past. That's why I dehydrated mine, I remembered that yours kept so well.

Beachlily, I thought yours did OK. I was going to send you a box full, but remembered that you had planted some.

sleevendog, I didn't have two bowls, so I used a small pot with a domed lid and as you can see, it worked like a charm. Hmmmm. Did you grow your own garlic, or buy it? I wonder if freshness has any impact?

Peppi, you never know when you'll run into a vampire. Or a zombie. I've met my share of .....um....blood suckers in my life. Yeah. It doesn't take garlic to keep them away, though, LOL.

Annie

We just went through the pantry and culled out all the garlic with split peels and a few were just starting to show sprouts. DH shook the heck out of them and it seems like he settled on a metal pan lid and a big plastic bowl or maybe two s/s mixing bowls...I stayed out of the way, but whatever he did worked. Worked better with the hardnecks I think.

I tossed them all with a little olive oil and slow roasted, then portioned out in ziplocs and sealed several bags together in a foodsaver bag and froze.

Now we're working on the 50 lb. sack of onions from the Gleaners. They're a bit dinged up, so we sorted them and DH has been dicing them to dry. The guy does not cry when he chops onions...nice for me, hehe.

Annie, let me know when you get settled and I'll send more. I'm down to just a couple of dozen varieties, but I'm sure I'll be able to scrounge up some starts. Funny, my eastern European garlics were way small this year, too, but the Korean Reds that are usually small to medium were huge. Music was one of the largest also. This fall I got picky and only planted the biggest cloves. We'll see how that goes.

Katie, I'm hopeful that we'll build at the farm this spring, and I'll be able to make a "permanent" garlic bed somewhere there where it'll be out of the way of equipment so that it can stay in the ground over the winter. Somehow things get tilled up, run over, dug through or just "lost" when I don't live there to keep an eye on things.

Then you can be sure that I'll be contacting you to talk garlic and which ones are doing best for you, and which store the best. Of course, a root cellar at the farm would be a better storage place than my kitchen.

Annie

Annie, the bulbs didn't develop--too hot down here for them. In the same growing box (different space), little carrots are appearing. It won't take long to determine if those little, itty bitty plants are salt tolerant. I'm guessing not. Probably next fall, daylilies will be planted in that area--they don't mind salt in the air and in the water.

On my last trip to BJ's warehouse, I picked up a BIG bottle of dehydrated garlic slivers. Use them all the time. Next time I'll put them them in the pestle/mortar to enhance their taste. Good idea!

Wow, Annie, they're gorgeous!!!!! I love the way they're sliced. I guess I didn't think a processor would be able to slice them.

How do you plan on keeping them? Just like that, in the jars?? Will you freeze them or just keep them in the pantry?

jasdip, they are all dried, spent hours in the mortar and pestle, so I'll just keep them in those jars, with lids and rings, and use them as needed. They'll probably "live" in the basement with the rest of the canned goods, to be brought into the kitchen as necessary.

the food processor did a great job, I just shoved the cloves by the handful into the feed tube and it sliced up like a champ. I got a few "bits", but I just spread them on the dehydrator tray with the slices and it all dried.

OK, Beachlily, I won't mail you any, LOL. For some reason I think carrots are salt sensitive but beets and cabbage/broccoli and peppers are salt tolerant. Why do I think that? Darned if I know, it's not something I'd learn here in Michigan, that's for sure. Maybe you told me?

Annie

This post was edited by annie1992 on Mon, Jan 13, 14 at 22:55

I've never heard of the 'shake method' to peel cloves, but then I've never tried to peel the cloves from 178 heads of garlic either. :O) I hope that you held some garlic for eating fresh. My best hardneck varieties will keep for many months... often until the next harvest (if they last that long).

Annie, you should have made chicken w/ 40 cloves of garlic!!! We make it in a romertopf. yum!

That garlic is just beautiful.

I haven't peeled that many at one time either, but if I do, I'll try that.

Finally got to take a walk up to the garden this weekend (it's been either too snowy/icy to walk up the hill, too bloody cold or too muddy) and I was surprised to see some of mine popping up already. Hope they know what they're doing.

I planted about 100 this year - my standby German Extra Hardy, some Music from a local farmer, Chesnok Red and Killarney Red. Can't wait for scapes!

Annie, you did well! (Big surprise, huh?) One of these days I'll grow garlic. One of these days I'll do a lot of stuff.

As for the peeling, in my experience the shaking method seems to work best and easiest in a light, steel, not-nonstick sauce pan with a tight fitting steel lid. I've got some old Faberware that does the trick in a snap. Two bowls held together s a recipe for disaster, glass lids add weight and don't seem to work as well.

You should be very proud of your garlic harvest, they look wonderful.

I am sure you are looking forward to a few garlic scape dinners.

dcarch

dcarch, I already ate the scapes, I cut those last year about May and June and dug the garlic in July. I'll miss 'em this summer. (sigh)

I usually plant in October, but that didn't happen this year, of course.

FOAS, maybe that's why it worked so well, I used a Calphalon anodized pan with a matching lid, worked like a charm.

party, I have about a dozen heads of Music that I left to use fresh, although it's already been stored 6 months, so even it will sprout pretty soon.

Malna, 100 are going to give you a nice harvest of scapes!

Annie

Scapes make an excellent pickle, too.