Mo Better Green Garlic

I’ve posted before about green garlic (samples here), the immature garlic plant that has yet to bulb and is harvested early. It is eaten fresh, that is it isn’t cured like the regular garlic harvest.

This year I decided to plant a grid of small garlic heads from last year. I decided to forgo the usual separation of cloves and just put the entire head into the ground on a tight grid. I also planted these “late”, as in late winter and not fall, well after the normal crop was planted.
Also, I waited a little late to harvest some of it last year as the cloves were maybe a little too far along. Still usable, but this more “scallion-like” stage seems to be preferable for texture and mildness.

The results?

The grid as it stands, with a few clumps already harvested from the edge:

The pulled clumps with clods of moist soil still intact on the roots:

After a quick rinse with the well hose, ready for the fridge:

How to use it? It is difficult to classify as far as flavor. It is very mild, a sweet garlic smell with a hint of scallion or shallot. Consider it a fragrant and delicious addition to almost any dish that would benefit from a little garlic, chives or green onion. We’ve used it all sorts of experiments, over the last week in soups, cole slaw, and in both the base flavoring and as a “garnish” to a turnip/potato soup:

The lower whiter section of the plant is more like normal garlic than the green top; in the soup above I used both, with the greener stem sections sliced and added when served.

More ideas for green garlic here:

Ideas from Gourmet Sleuth

Recipes

And attention Mrs cohutt, this mentions artichokes and looks really nasty in a very good way: Green garlic aïoli

If you are local and would like to experiment with a bunch or two, get in touch with me and I’ll be happy to share.