In Pursuit of Garlic (14 page)

I WILL admit that the popularity of scapes has probably made life better for small growers. It must be a chore to have to cut each one off to allow the bulbs to reach their full size, and selling them to eager customers must be a way to offset some of the labor costs. Typically, the scapes are cut after they’ve coiled downward and have that nice curl customers like but before they straighten and point upward. Holding off until this precise time is thought to allow the bulbs to last longer in storage. But if they were cut before they curled at all, not long after they’d emerged from the underground stem, they would be more tender. Home growers could easily cut scapes at this desirable earlier point because it’s probably not as important for their garlic to have long storage capability. I read somewhere that in Italy it’s common practice among commercial growers to grow some garlic just for its scapes. This could be the next step here, too.

A couple of kinds of green garlic are also becoming popular. Garlic scallions are, like onion scallions, young plants grown for their tender leaves and tiny bulbs, which have a delicate, slightly garlicky taste. They’re a treat, and they can be grown in a pot on your windowsill for winter or in the garden for fall, planted as soon as you harvest your crop in July. Very small cloves are ideal for this purpose, as are large bulbils from a mature scape, planted an inch (2.5 centimeters) or less apart. Use a good potting soil in your indoor pot, and add some well-rotted compost to the outdoor patch. Like scapes, garlic scallions can be grilled or pan-fried, methods that bring out their sweetness, and they’re good in stir-fries or raw in salads. The tops that grow from rounds—the garlic plants that may have gone wild in your garden and haven’t yet developed multicloved bulbs—are also good eaten as garlic scallions.

Garlic scallions are often called green garlic, but true green garlic is actually a little different. It’s more mature than the scallion but not quite grown up yet. It’s not as intensely flavorful as mature garlic and doesn’t have the scallion’s tender and milder attributes, and the bulb may contain a few pristine cloves with the many layers of skin still undeveloped. It’s sold whole, with the bulb and the green tops intact, mainly in farmers’ markets, though some larger greengrocers in the United States sell them.

Garlic greens, as opposed to green garlic, are more mature plants and are yet another way to eat garlic. In tropical countries, garlic is frequently grown just for its tops, since garlic doesn’t form bulbs in hot climates. Garlic greens aren’t often seen in North America, however, if at all. As an experiment you could try growing some to add to stews as you would cabbage or kale. I bet they’d make a fine soup, too. Plant small cloves for the smallest and tenderest greens and harvest before the leaves become tough—but be warned they’re not going to be as tender as garlic scallions. Once they reach a foot (30 centimeters), it’s time to get out the scissors.

The reverse snob in me was prepared to heartily dislike fermented black garlic, the latest and hottest trend. It appeared out of nowhere in a San Francisco gourmet food shop in 2008; then it was used on
Top Chef: New York
and
Iron Chef America.
In 2008 it was listed in the American trade publication
Nation’s Restaurant News
by chef Matthias Merges of Charlie Trotter’s restaurant in Chicago as one of his five food finds of the year. A few months later the
Washington Post
ran an article about it, followed by the Toronto
Globe and Mail.
Oh, there was more. The best shops—and only the best ones—started stocking it. I looked for it and couldn’t find it. I realized I shopped at the wrong stores and decided I wouldn’t bother.

Yes, I dug my heels in. But when I finally found it, selling at two bulbs for five dollars, took it home and spread two cloves on crusty rolls under tomato slices, roasted red peppers, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto, I ate my words as well as the sandwich. It was sweet, creamy, fruity, smoky.

“
Mmmm,
did you put some kind of balsamic sauce on this?” asked Chris. “I like it.”

A few people tried to tell me that fermenting garlic was an ancient method of preserving it and that eating fermented garlic guarantees a long life. I checked it out and it isn’t true, or at least it’s unprovable. Fermented black garlic was invented by Scott Kim in South Korea in 2004 as a health product. I’d love to know how he came up with the idea. He used a forty-day heat-curing process that leaves the bulbs slightly shrunken but with still-white skins. The cloves inside are black, soft, and chewy. Kim says his garlic contains twice as many antioxidants as fresh garlic, as well as S-allyl cysteine, a factor reported to play a role in preventing some types of cancer.

Now that I’ve tried black garlic on sandwiches as well as pasta—mashed into a sauce made with cream and mushrooms—I’m wondering how to use it in other ways. The website (see “Sources”) offers several recipes, including an Asian-style salad with noodles and vegetables and a dish of scallops and chorizo, that sound good.

Black garlic and all the other variations I mention here prove my belief that garlic is being reborn. It’s appearing in grocery stores and on cooking shows in many different guises. It’s gaining respect as more than a folk remedy or a homeopathic cure but as a plant with serious therapeutic value. Yet it remains that odorous, delicious, spellbinding, magical potion I discovered in an Italian restaurant long ago. After all is said and done, the best thing to do with garlic is to eat it, however it is served.

· HOW MUCH GARLIC IS ENOUGH? ·

The World Health Organization’s guidelines recommend one clove a day to promote good health (cloves vary, so that’s 0.07 to 0.18 ounces, or 2 to 5 grams); one clove seems to be the average daily consumption of garlic lovers. Garlic is an antioxidant, which reduces damage to the body caused by free radicals. One raw clove yields about 5 milligrams of allicin, the magical ingredient.

California author and garlic grower Chester Aaron swears by three cloves daily to keep him youthful and healthy, and to judge by his looks and work level, it works for him. He’s eighty-eight and his twenty-seventh book was recently published. Ontario’s Ted Maczka, the same age, still has plenty of vim and vigor; he eats three cloves a day.

Tests based on rats suggested that humans weighing 150 pounds (68 kilograms) could risk liver damage if they consume more than five cloves a day. The rats ate an equivalent amount for twenty-one days with no adverse effects, but there was significant liver deterioration after twenty-eight days.

Eating more than two cloves raw may irritate the stomach and esophagus, but this is hardly news. Eat raw garlic with food, in soup or hummus, or with bread.

Some people react badly to garlic, with severe breath and body odor, heartburn, and digestive upsets. These people may not be able to oxidize the sulfides in garlic into sulfoxides and may be wise to eat only cooked garlic.

· GARLIC IN NAME ONLY ·

Elephant garlic (
Allium ampeloprasum
) may look like a giant head of garlic, but it’s a member of the leek family and grows to about twice its cousin’s size. Many cooks like the convenience of its big cloves because less peeling is required for the same quantity, but this is a debatable advantage if you’re after real garlic flavor; elephant garlic is milder and more oniony than true garlic. Some cooks prefer its taste, and others scorn it for being weak. Elephant garlic also produces less allicin than garlic. It does have one clear advantage over garlic, however: it has a longer shelf life at room temperature.

· WHEN GARLIC TURNS DEADLY ·

Because garlic grows underground, it can contain spores of the soil-dwelling microorganism
Clostridium botulinum,
which causes deadly botulism poisoning, and garlic stored in oil offers it the perfect anaerobic home. Never store garlic in oil at room temperature. It’s okay to prepare some garlic-infused oil for that night’s vinaigrette, but throw out any unused portion. It may be fine the next day, but you may forget about it and keep it around for much longer.

The spores are resistant to heat, so cooking the garlic before putting it into the oil likely won’t kill them. However,
C. botulinum
is sensitive to acid, so garlic cloves soaked in wine, vinegar, or citric acid for twenty-four hours can be stored in oil and kept in the refrigerator safely for about three months. Commercial garlic-and-oil products are prepared with acids under strict regulations to avoid the botulism threat.

· WHEN GARLIC TURNS GREEN ·

You need a background in chemistry to understand why garlic sometimes develops pretty blue or greenish spots. In his book, Eric Block says it’s the result of a complex formation of pigments derived from several amino acids, not contact with the toxic salts of copper or cadmium, as some think, and it’s perfectly safe to eat, though its flavor may be compromised.

In China this chemical process is used to produce green garlic, which is then pickled and served with dumplings at Chinese New Year celebrations.

· GOT GARLIC BREATH? ·

The strong odor caused by garlic starts in the mouth, extends to the gut, and finally is exuded by the lungs and through sweat, and it’s probably going to last thirty hours no matter how often you use mouthwash. The odor is caused by various sulfides produced when garlic is digested.

The classic remedy is to chew parsley, but eating any of several raw fruits and vegetables, such as kiwi, basil, eggplant, mushrooms, and spinach, helps neutralize the effect. Cooked rice, cow’s milk, or eggs can also help. But when it comes down to it, your friends will probably have to wait it out until the garlic leaves your body.

You could try a sauna, though—a good sweat might speed up the process.

Margee Berry of Trout Lake, Washington, won first prize at the 2010 Gilroy Garlic Festival with this delicious cold soup. Its fresh, fruity sweetness is beautifully balanced with a hit of garlic, the tang of lemongrass and lime juice, and a bit of heat provided by fresh ginger and chilies.

I wasn’t able to get blood oranges when I made this in summer, so I used regular oranges, squeezed fresh. The taste is just a touch sweeter.
Serves 6

5 cups cubed seedless watermelon

1 tbsp mild olive oil

1/4 cup chopped shallots

2 tsp peeled and minced ginger

2 tsp trimmed and minced fresh lemongrass
(see Note)

1 tsp minced Thai chili or other hot chili, such as serrano

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 cup freshly squeezed blood orange juice

2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp sea salt

CRABMEAT TOPPING

2 cups cooked lump crabmeat

1/4 cup finely chopped green onion

3 tbsp chopped cilantro

2 tbsp chopped fresh mint

2 tsp fresh lime juice

4 tbsp grated radish

In a blender, purée the watermelon, then transfer to a large bowl. Set aside.

Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add the shallots, ginger, lemongrass, and chili; sauté 5 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 1 minute more. Transfer to blender along with orange juice, vinegar, fish sauce, and salt; purée until smooth. Stir into watermelon purée, then strain mixture and press it through a fine sieve into another bowl. Discard solids. Chill soup for at least an hour to blend flavors.

CRABMEAT TOPPING: In a medium bowl, toss together drained (if canned) crabmeat, green onion, cilantro, mint, and lime juice.

TO SERVE: Ladle soup into 6 bowls. Mound about 1/3 cup of crabmeat mixture in center of soup and garnish top of crabmeat with grated radish. Serve at room temperature or slightly chilled.

NOTE: Trim root end off lemongrass and remove 2 outer leaves. Finely mince with a Microplane zester or a knife. Ginger and garlic can also be minced on the Microplane.

Chris and I ate this soup in almost every restaurant we visited while we were in Spain, and each was a little different. It’s bracing, smooth, and spicy but with a sweet edge provided by the grapes, and it’s especially appealing on a hot day. This is my version, and I change the amount of garlic almost every time I make it—the number of cloves depends on how big they are and whether you’re in the mood for mellow or intense.
Serves 6

4 slices white bread without crusts
(any kind)

3/4 cup blanched ground almonds

5 or 6 cloves garlic, chopped

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp sherry vinegar

2 cups water

2 cups chicken stock

salt to taste

about 1/2 lb seedless green or red grapes

Put bread in a bowl and cover with water. Allow to sit a couple of minutes, then drain and squeeze out as much water as you can. Crumble bread and put in food processor with almonds, garlic, oil, vinegar, and water. Process until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and blend in chicken stock. Taste and add salt as needed. Chill well. To serve, put some grapes in the bottom of each bowl and pour soup over.

“This is just too incredibly simple,” says my friend Pat. “But it’s a great cold remedy,” says her husband, Ian. The general rule is six cloves of garlic for each cup of stock, plus one for the pot.
Serves 2

13 cloves garlic, peeled

2 cups chicken stock
(or beef or vegetable,
but the legendary chicken fights colds)

2 thick slices crusty bread

grated Gruyère or cheddar cheese

Simmer garlic in stock 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender. Blend with immersion blender.

Put bread into bowls and sprinkle it with the cheese. Pour the soup over, wrap yourself in a blanket, hold the bowl close to your mouth so that you smell the vapors, and spoon it in.

How can a soup so easy taste so delicious? This soup draws crowds at Lautrec’s Fête de l’Ail Rose the first Friday of every August, where 250 gallons is made to feed the throng. The pink garlic, of course, contributes to the flavor, but it’s not widely available in North America; use a mild Rocambole or other garlic instead.
Serves 4