It seems that recently planted garlic, and it’s time to harvest. Not everything, of course, but only the part that you want to pickle, ferment, and then stock. Garlic arrows have long been lying in jars with marinade and took their place on the shelf in the basement, it was the turn of young garlic heads. Let the rest of the crop ripen a little more.
What is important to consider when harvesting young garlic?
First: enough moisture. If you dig it out in the dry period, the pulp will be small slices, a hard shell of slices, the head is small. What if it’s been raining for a long time, and the garlic is about to grow? I do it. As soon as the tips of the leaves begin to turn yellow, this is a signal, in a week or two it’s time to dig. Is it raining? No problem! Every three days I water the beds with garlic, so that the water on the surface of the ground stands and is not absorbed immediately. Three watering and digging, garlic is large, juicy.
Council No. 1
Pickle or ferment the same day you dig up the garlic. During the day, the garlic heads will lose about 30% of moisture, which will not affect the taste of the blanks in the best way. Digging garlic is already at sunset, tired for the day, worked on pure enthusiasm. When I started photographing a bowl of garlic and next to horseradish leaves, dill and celery stalks, it only dawned on me that spicy herbs were not needed. Nothing to do, I had to try to cope with them…
Council No. 2.
Be sure to blanch the garlic heads in boiling water for exactly 3 minutes, then immediately-under cold water, so that the heads cool down as quickly as possible. I didn’t do it in my first year. As a result, even the pickled garlic was so bitter that no one could eat more than 3 slices. The second time I made a mistake, but in a different way: I poured about 1 kg of heads into a pot of boiling water, waited until the water boils, and took it out after 3 minutes. The result was not garlic, but boiled crumbs. To avoid repeating my mistakes, do the following: put the garlic heads in a pot of boiling water. Be sure to keep track of the time. After exactly 3 minutes, take it out. After that, pour the marinade or brine into the jar and put the garlic there.
I tried several recipes and decided on two: a marinade seasoned with beetroot and hops-suneli herbs. Here is the result of my work!
The second option will remind you of Korean salads and pickles! The smell in the house is so appetizing that it is impossible to resist not to drink!