We pulled down the dirt road into the farm where a large carts held masses of freshly picked garlic.
I approached the lady who was tying them up into bundles and told her I had never bought any like this before. " Oh, these are not for sale" she told me, " go into the barn."
There we saw racks of garlic hanging up to dry and some already dried and hanging in net bags for sale. Too many choices. Artichoke, Asiatic, Creole, Turban, Silverskin, Porcelain, Rocambole, Purple Stripe, Purple Stripe Marbled and Purple Stripe Glazed.
Then I noticed these bags of black garlic and was promptly brought a sliver of the black garlic to try. The processing takes 23 days and involves controlling the temperature and humidity while the garlic ferments into this sliceable black clove. A sweet, smokey, intriguing flavor. And so I bought a 50g bag of black garlic and a large bag of the regular which I forgot to photograph, so have no idea what it is. All I know is that I asked for large cloves because I dislike all those tiny cloves. I am pleased to say they use no chemicals at Eureka Garlic.
Of course a vanity plate on their truck.
So here is the black, sometimes called Korean garlic, prized by chefs. We had steak for dinner and we smeared the garlic over the steak for a delicious smokey flavor. I'm hunting for new recipes to try.
I may grow garlic again this year but it will just be the kind that my local nursery has and I certainly will not be doing the 23 day procedure.
I never know there were so many varieties of garlic - or that it could be fermented. Enjoy your cooking experiments!
ReplyDeleteNeat! I keep thinking about growing garlic, but I figure I don't use much and it's easy find local. That black garlic is very interesting. I have to say I'm not very adventurous with my garlic. :-)
ReplyDeleteSimply amazing. I mostly take garlic (from my grocery store) completely for granted. We get German garlic in our CSA boxes, but I'd never heard of many of the other types you've mentioned. I'm certainly on the lookout, now!
ReplyDeleteBlack garlic! I will be on the hunt, never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteWow..what a wonderful place to stumble upon! I love garlic and just order a few varieties of Rocambole to try growing. The steaks look yummy!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know there were that many types of garlic.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to branch out from the local nursery, I've had great luck with the Territorial Seed Company's garlic and the selection is huge.
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