Cooking & Preserving

Storing Your Garlic

Our garlic is harvested in December and will keep through to August/September months when stored in the right conditions.

Hang in your kitchen or store in a basket with plenty of holes. Garlic needs to be kept in a light airy place. It needs to be dry and prefers well ventilated storage at room temperature.

*Don’t store in direct sunlight.

*Don’t store in the dark the fridge or plastic bag or a sealed container as this will encourage mould or sprouting.

Cooking with Garlic

Garlic tastes pretty wonderful. And it is rich in natural anti-inflammatories and nutrients.

Enjoy garlic every day in your kitchen – fresh, chopped, crushed, roasted whole, stir fried, baked, added to pasta or in your slow cooker. Add to your salads, serve with roast lamb or tofu, stuff baked fish with our garlic and lime leaves or spread especially thickly on garlic bread. Try adding to soups to bring out other flavours… you are only limited by your imagination! From subtle to pure garlic… take your pick. Here are some of our special recipes.

Subtle Garlic Puree

The longer you cook garlic, the subtler the flavour. If you want more of a punchy puree, only cook for 7 minutes. You can serve this puree with chicken breasts, as a sauce with full roast lamb, or with fresh sliced tomatoes on toast.

3 garlic bulbs, peeled
200ml milk
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and black pepper and perhaps a few drops of sherry vinegar

1 Place the peeled garlic in a small saucepan, and cover with the milk. Hold back 6 tbsp of milk for pureeing later.

2 Simmer the garlic for 10 minutes, until it is just soft.

3 Add olive oil and salt and pepper.

4 Strain and reserve the milk.

5 Now, with a handheld blender, puree the garlic with 6 tbsp of milk. When smooth, check the seasoning.

Roast Garlic

So simple…even I can cook these.

whole garlic bulbs
olive oil
salt

1 Cut top 1/5 off the top of the garlic bulb and trim the base slightly so it will stay standing up.

2 Place the garlic standing up in a oven dish or tray. Add  2 or 3 (allow one per person) or fill the entire bottom.

3 Drizzle each garlic top with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt.

4 Add a lid or tin foil

5 Bake at 205°C for 35 minutes, or until the cloves feel soft when pressed.

6 Serve a whole bulb per person – pull apart and just push out the garlic by squeezing each clove. Finger licking delicious.

Zesty Garlic & Lime Veggie Soup for those Cold Wintry Days

I always make a large quantity of this soup as it disappears so fast.

2 litres stock  -whatever you have – homemade or bought
butter or coconut oil
2 large leeks/onions or both chopped
4 large potatoes chopped
6-8 carrots chopped
6 cloves garlic chopped
any other veggies you like
2 bay leaves
2 tins (equivalent) lentils or chick peas or butter beans
black pepper & salt
Tabasco or other chilli sauce to taste
zest of 1 lemon
4 kafir lime leaves finely chopped
4 crushed garlic cloves
coriander or flat leaf parsley chopped

1 Bring to simmer vegetable or chicken stock

2 Sauté in another large pan the leek and/or onions in decent sized saucepan, using butter or coconut oil

3 Add potato, carrot, garlic, plus anything else you fancy or have in fridge or veggie garden.

4 Add 2 bay leaves

5 Sauté a little more till soft

6 Add your preheated stock

7 Add your lentils or chick peas or butter beans or whichever legumes you like

8 Simmer ’til the veggies are cooked, then turn down the heat.

9 Adjust consistency with more water and season with black pepper and salt, if required. The soup should now be a chunky and rich tasting soup.

10 Add a of few drops Tabasco/chilli sauce to taste – not hot! Subtle is good!

11 Add finely chopped zest of 1 lemon

12 Add kafir lime leaves

13 Simmer for 2 more mins

14 At the very last minute, add 4 cloves of crushed garlic and stir through…

15 Serve… Coriander or flat leaf parsley would be good

16 Serve with crusty bread

Lift Me Up – Garlic Tonic

Feeling a bit under the weather? Cold coming on? This warming zesty tonic is a great pick me up! The honey and ginger help counter the flavour of the garlic and make it very tasty.

Mix these fresh, raw ingredients with 1/2 cup warm water (not hot, as heating will decreases any  beneficial compounds in the ingredients). The black pepper and coconut oil are to help absorption of fat soluble vitamins. Drink up and eat all the lumpy bits too! This recipe is for one cupful.

  • 1 clove garlic  – peeled & minced
  • fresh ginger – peeled & minced * option
  • piece fresh turmeric root – peeled & minced (1.5 – 3 g max.) or 1 teaspoon dried turmeric powder * option 
  • 1 teaspoon raw cold pressed honey (or more to taste)
  • 1/2 teaspoon organic apple cider vinegar
  • 1 -3 teaspoon lemon juice
  • pinch of fresh ground black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon coconut oil

Enjoy…

Preserving

There a number of ways, but make sure its a safe way..

How do we preserve garlic for when the fresh garlic season is over? We freeze dry our garlic… You can take a look here and buy from us all year round.

Freeze garlic at home

You can freeze fresh garlic with the peel on. The skin loosens because of the freezing so the cloves are much easier to peel. Choose the plump and firm cloves. Pop them in a container/bag in the freezer. Take a clove out when you need it. If the peel’s still on, smash with a knife, remove the skin and use as usual. It lasts for 12 months, is very easy to use, and retains most of its flavour.

But don’t do this…

You must never put raw cloves into oil and keep them at room temperature, even in a fridge for more than a couple of days. You run the risk of the garlic being contaminated with botulism. Garlic in olive oil is the perfect condition to grow botulism. Botulism is rare but fatal.

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