Sorry … garlic is almost automatic for me at this point when I cook, it’s almost like salt and pepper … I never think of it.
And I’m at the point where I buy about 20lbs of garlic from my local farmer every fall (I just bought my supply a couple of weeks ago) to last me the winter.
I keep mine in a very loose burlap bag which my farmer gave me years ago … then I hang the bag on a hook from the ceiling in my basement (about six feet off the floor) where humidity lingers about 50-60% year round … no natural light and temps are about 17-20 Celsius year round.
I learned that hanging is better because everything gets equal amounts of air. If you sit it on a shelf or near the floor, the bottom layer will get damp fast and give no air circulation. My farmer said that he had a few customers complain that their supply of garlic went bad midway through the winter … he suspected that they kept their bags on the floor or on a shelf.
Last year I kept 20lbs starting from about October and I used the last of it at about June the following year with only about three or four bulbs going bad … and bad meaning they just shrivelled up and dried out.
I’m not exactly a gourmet cook, I’ve just been learning how to cook for years. One Italian friend of mine recommended that I should always try to get fresh garlic as much as I can because it is better. Canned, preserved, precut, minced, bottled garlic … or even dried, dehydrated garlic is not the best … not only does it not have as much of a strong garlic flavour, most of it comes from Asia and specifically China where it is produced cheaply and under very shady circumstances.
Watch a Netflix documentary series called ‘Rotten’ … Season 1 Episode 3 is titled ‘Garlic Breath’ … and it details where a lot of cheap prepackaged garlic products come from … namely cheap Chinese prison labour where in some factories, prisoners are not allowed any sharp objects to peel the garlic by hand so they have to resort to using their fingernails, which they eventually wear out and then later resort to using their teeth.
After watching all that … I really took my time to search for a local farmer and pay double the amount for fresh garlic and I just buy the stuff in bulk now because it’s cheaper in the long run.
Plus, for bottled garlic, the preservatives added to it (citric acid I think) make the bits never really soften when you cook them. It’s always easy to tell when you go out to eat somewhere and order something with garlic all over it if they used garlic from a jar, since the garlic always looks like gravel or uncooked cous cous.
I didn’t know the half of that, and I was mildly happier for it :(
Usually Chinese garlic is also a different plant than European garlic. You can notice it by the fact that the roots of the garlic fall off in a neat chunk for Chinese garlic but stay attached for European garlic.
I had no idea, thanks for the docu recommendation. Thankfully I’ll nearly always use fresh unless a recipe requires dry & it feels needed, like dry rubs. I will certainly be checking where any non fresh garlic comes from in the future. Happy cooking!!
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
Sorry … garlic is almost automatic for me at this point when I cook, it’s almost like salt and pepper … I never think of it.
And I’m at the point where I buy about 20lbs of garlic from my local farmer every fall (I just bought my supply a couple of weeks ago) to last me the winter.
swampdownloader@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 months ago
How do you ensure the garlic lasts through winter?
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
I keep mine in a very loose burlap bag which my farmer gave me years ago … then I hang the bag on a hook from the ceiling in my basement (about six feet off the floor) where humidity lingers about 50-60% year round … no natural light and temps are about 17-20 Celsius year round.
I learned that hanging is better because everything gets equal amounts of air. If you sit it on a shelf or near the floor, the bottom layer will get damp fast and give no air circulation. My farmer said that he had a few customers complain that their supply of garlic went bad midway through the winter … he suspected that they kept their bags on the floor or on a shelf.
Last year I kept 20lbs starting from about October and I used the last of it at about June the following year with only about three or four bulbs going bad … and bad meaning they just shrivelled up and dried out.
DeadPixel@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Does it start to sprout still, or does the humidity level & hanging it help prevent that as well?
You should write a book about garlic facts, I’ve learned so much from you this thread!
DeadPixel@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Wow & I thought I liked garlic, I feel amateur by those standards. Your food must taste amazing & I bet not a vampire in sight too!
ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 2 months ago
I’m not exactly a gourmet cook, I’ve just been learning how to cook for years. One Italian friend of mine recommended that I should always try to get fresh garlic as much as I can because it is better. Canned, preserved, precut, minced, bottled garlic … or even dried, dehydrated garlic is not the best … not only does it not have as much of a strong garlic flavour, most of it comes from Asia and specifically China where it is produced cheaply and under very shady circumstances.
Watch a Netflix documentary series called ‘Rotten’ … Season 1 Episode 3 is titled ‘Garlic Breath’ … and it details where a lot of cheap prepackaged garlic products come from … namely cheap Chinese prison labour where in some factories, prisoners are not allowed any sharp objects to peel the garlic by hand so they have to resort to using their fingernails, which they eventually wear out and then later resort to using their teeth.
After watching all that … I really took my time to search for a local farmer and pay double the amount for fresh garlic and I just buy the stuff in bulk now because it’s cheaper in the long run.
PodPerson@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
Plus, for bottled garlic, the preservatives added to it (citric acid I think) make the bits never really soften when you cook them. It’s always easy to tell when you go out to eat somewhere and order something with garlic all over it if they used garlic from a jar, since the garlic always looks like gravel or uncooked cous cous.
Eq0@literature.cafe 2 months ago
I didn’t know the half of that, and I was mildly happier for it :(
Usually Chinese garlic is also a different plant than European garlic. You can notice it by the fact that the roots of the garlic fall off in a neat chunk for Chinese garlic but stay attached for European garlic.
DeadPixel@lemmy.zip 2 months ago
I had no idea, thanks for the docu recommendation. Thankfully I’ll nearly always use fresh unless a recipe requires dry & it feels needed, like dry rubs. I will certainly be checking where any non fresh garlic comes from in the future. Happy cooking!!