Available Now - Purple Glamour Garlic
SORRY our first ever offering of late harvest white garlic SOLD OUT! – plenty of your favourite purple glamour garlic is still available!
Wow! This year's garlic is THE best.
Loved the "care" leaflet in the beautifully (as usual) packaged box. Congratulations to you Patrice & Roger for your dedication & love of producing superlative quality garlic.
Clio
S is for the Slightly....smaller Sensible Special
By International standards even our smaller bulbs are big.
Beware of the Russian variety Imposter. This is a naturally huge variety (with a very different taste) that attracts shoppers to their colossal sized cloves.
For the fine cooking we have in mind only a true Hard Neck Purple variety delivers the flavour.
Garlic For Desert!
This recipe came about because my good friend Deb Newell (no relation) – Director of the Hunter Gatherer Dinner Club thehuntergathererdinnerclub.com.au been telling me for years that garlic when baked is sweet and should be incorporated in desserts.
Last weekend, Deb visited the farm to loan me her special stainless steel oven, so we could experiment with smoking and cooking. After a few batches of garlic, we used the smokiest garlic we made to make this custard.
I’ve since made it with garlic I’ve baked whole in the oven – with no smoking. Usually I throw a few extra small bulbs straight onto the rack when baking other things, and use them the following day.
Garlic Custard
✮Pour 400mls of organic milk and 100mls of ‘pure’ -runny cream- (thickened if you must) into a saucepan with 5 heaped dessertspoons of sugar and dissolve over low heat. Do not let it bubble and simmer. Remove from heat when done. If you want a consistency more like crème brulee use more cream. It doesn’t matter so long as it’s 500mls in total.✮Take 4 large eggs or 5 medium eggs and separate. (Make pav bases out of the egg whites). Whisk the egg yolks.
✮Meanwhile squeeze the roasted garlic out from the skins. One whole big bulb equivalent. More if you’re brave and mash it in a cup with a tablespoon of honey. Then add a little milk mixture to it to mix it all up and make smooth. The honey adds an extra richness to the sweetness.
✮Finally, add the eggs to the milk mixture, then the garlic mash, then the vanilla and whisk it all together.
Vanillas vary in strength to me, I use ½ teaspoon of organic vanilla extract. Do a taste test- where you can add more honey, garlic or vanilla if needed.
✮Pour into a baking dish and place in a Bain Marie that has cold water in it.
✮Bake in a low oven, about 125 degrees. For 45-60 minutes. (I have an appalling oven and never really know the temperatures) It’s ready when it has set, and browned a little on top. Shake the dish and the custard should give a little shudder when ready.
I served this with BAKED RHUBARB.
Take a few stalks, cut into 2 inch pieces and lay then out in one layer in a baking dish. Sprinkle with lots of sugar and vanilla extract. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at a low temperate. Remove foil and bake for a further 30 minutes. Rhubarb is then kept in pieces, and caramelised.
The above custard served 5. I never quite understand servings, because Phillip and I could quite easily have eaten all of it for dinner and skipped the roast lamb beforehand.
Tzatziki ( Middle Eastern Yoghurt dip)
While some may think it’s easy to buy this middle eastern dip in a tub at the supermarket…believe me, freshly made is a zillion times better!
Take 1 long green cucumber and chop it up as fine as you like – I like it chunky with the skin left on. ( purists grate it peeled ).Then sprinkle it with salt ( a good teaspoon ), let it rest to absorb the salt, then drain and press out any moisture.
Chop or crush 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic.
Finely chop at least 3 tablespoons of fresh mint or parsley or basil.
Mix it all into 2 cups of plain thick yoghurt. (if it’s a runny kind, drain it in muslin first to thicken it up)
Generously grind black pepper through it and (friends add a tablespoon of honey and olive oil – which is good if you find plain yoghurt too bitter)
Serve with a sprinkle of fresh herbs on top.
Ayurvedic Garlic Curry – From Carli Ratcliff
The below recipe was taught to me during a recent trip to Sri Lanka by Executive Chef Umesh Dhwark of AmanGalla, Galle, on the country's west coast.
Ingredients
✮Chopped red onions, 50g
✮100g Garlic cloves (slice the clove in half, through the middle, so it retains its 'clove shape')
✮Curry leaves, a few (plus extra for garnishing)
✮Mustard Seeds, 1/2 teaspoon
✮Fenugreek Seeds, 1/2 teaspoon
✮Turmeric Powder, 20g (yes 20g!)
✮Chilli Powder, 10g (optional)
✮Thick coconut milk (or cream) 150ml
✮Olive Oil, 1 Tablespoon
✮Water 2 Tablespoons
✮Sea Salt & Ground Black Pepper, to taste
Method
✮ Have all of the above ingredients measured and prepared before you begin.
✮ Heat the oil in a small saucepan, when very hot add the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds, listen for the popping sound of the mustard seeds. If the oil starts to burn, take the pan off the heat and stir the seeds, they will continue to cook even off the heat.
✮Put the pan back on the heat, add curry leaves and chopped onions. Saute until translucent.
✮Add turmeric and chilli powder, stir the spices through the onion and seed mixture. Take off the heat. Add 2 Tablespoons of water to wet the dry spices (this ensures that they won't taste 'powdery), stir to combine.
✮ Return the pan to the heat. Add garlic cloves, coconut milk, salt and pepper. Stir to combine all of the ingredients.
✮ Cook for 15-20 min on low heat until the garlic cloves are 'al dente'. The curry is very thick and has a rich yellow brown colour thanks to the enormous amount of turmeric.
✮ Garnish with fried curry leaves.
✮ Serve hot with steamed Basmati rice or Sri Lankan meat dishes
Here’s a modern take on that delicious dish GARLIC PRAWNS from author and campaigner – engaging Children with Nature – Caroline Webster
- photo by Caroline Webster
✮ 2-3 knobs of good quality butter
✮ 1 large bulb of garlic, cloves peeled and finely sliced
✮ 1 tsp chilli flakes or 1 fresh large red chilli, seeded and diced
✮ 1 and half tsp of sweet paprika
✮ 2kg medium green king prawns, peeled, deveined, tails intact
✮ 2-3 good glugs of semi-sweet sherry
✮ 1/3 cup of chopped flat-leaf parsley
✮ 1-2 tsp lime juice
Method
Combine the butter, garlic, chilli, lime juice and paprika in a large frypan. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes or until it becomes aromatic. Increase heat to high.
Add prawns. Stir for 2 to 3 minutes or until prawns begin to turn pink. Add sherry and cook for a further minute until prawns are cooked through and sherry somewhat reduced. Remove from heat. Toss in parsley. SERVE.
(Of course, I use Olive Oil instead of butter - Patrice)
Garlic Notes - 2011 Crop
There are more than 600 species of alliums. (this includes, leeks, onions and garlic)
Our Organic Garlic is doing well under the watchful eye of Graeme Ayton our resident Garlic guru and Elmswood Farm's garlic inspecting Echidnas.
We are trialling different varieties.
"Dear Patrice,
We ordered garlic from you earlier in the year and were delighted with its freshness and flavour not to mention the special packaging; an added bonus is having 12 cloves already sending pretty green shoots skywards in terracotta pots outside the kitchen window". Peter and Frances
In April 2011 our new organic garlic season began. Here’s the first of the new garlic popping out of the ground
This year we’re raising the beds again. Two rows of garlic per bed.
Graeme fixing the irrigation pipes in preparation for the first irrigation.
“I can't wait for the new crop. This recipe celebrates Patrice Newell's fresh Australian Garlic in a delicious, traditional Provencale soup.”
Tony Bilson
SOUPE A L'AIL
Garlic soup can be made in the same way as leek soup. However, garlic has some strange qualities. If you saute chopped garlic you will highlight those qualities that are most unattractive. If, however, you boil whole cloves of garlic you may eat it in copious quantities without any unpleasant effect. The following recipe is deceptively simple but the result is a soup of great finesse.
6 heads (bulbs) of garlic
1 litre chicken stock
300 ml chardonnay
75 ml madeira, sherry or brandy
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf
6 peppercorns
salt
100 ml cream
2 egg yolks
Press down heavily on the heads of garlic with the palm of your hand thus breaking them into individual cloves. Discard the excess skin but do not peel the cloves. Wash them and place in a pot, cover with the stock, white wine, madeira, herbs and peppercorns. Bring to the boil, skim any froth from the top and simmer for one hour.
Pass the soup through a sieve, separating the pulp of the garlic from the skins. Ladle some of the soup repeatedly over the garlic to ensure that the sieve contains only the garlic skins at the end of pressing.
Bring the soup back to the boil, season to taste, remove from the flame, add the cream incorporated with the egg yolks and serve immediately.
During winter we get a lot of queries about whether or not you can eat the green shoots on the garlic.
The answer is YES.
See above for a very innovative idea one of our regular customers, Rachel, has sent us.
Not only is she eating the green shoots, but Rachel’s facilitating their growth by dangling the roots in water. What a brilliant idea!
“Important to tell people not to put bulbs into water, but suspend them just above the meniscus.. I use toothpicks or a wine glass where the head just fits. It is fun to see the roots so quickly snake down. and the garlic tops are good... but it is a bit of a waste of garlic!” says Rachel
See here, a video we did as well.
Garlic Notes 2010 Crop
2010 Organic Garlic hanging in the sheds.
(Click on the photos to view larger image)
We’re constantly experimenting with different growing techniques. Our sandy loam soil is planted with a green manure crop which is ploughed back into the soil.
Then the Biodynamic preparation 500 is sprayed before planting the garlic. This helps build good soil structure.
This year our garlic is growing on two separate paddocks six kilometres apart. The second trial area is a heavier soil. Both areas are doing well.
As a certified biodynamic farm we use NO chemicals anywhere during production.
All the organic garlic is mulched with a grass hay we cut on the farm.
Mulching the garlic has been a god send this year. With all the winter rain the rye grass and barley grass would certainly have got the better of us.
Graeme and Betty have virtually managed the whole crop on their own.
THANK YOU GRAEME AND BETTY.
Organic Garlic hates weeds!
Conventional Australian garlic does use chemicals to keep weeds under control and fungicides are regularly used as well.
Garlic Notes 2009 Crop
Organic Garlic may ward off vampires, but not dramatic weather.
August 2009 presented frosts at dawn with temperatures immediately soaring to 30 degrees. The organic garlic didn’t know what to think and suddenly began sprouting seed heads. I worried the bulbs would be tiny.
Then, a once-in-a-century hailstorm that spared the region, buried Elmswood in ice that shredded the leaves.
Suddenly there was no choice but to lift the entire 2009 crop. In came wwoofers, friends and hired help - but amazingly the bulbs weren’t damaged. Since then warm windy weather has provided perfect drying conditions.
Click here to meet the team who has helped lift, hang and trim our 2009 garlic.
Growing Organic Australian Garlic - besides the hail, it's been one of the most enjoyable adventures at Elmswood Farm - and the feedback has been marvellous.
Clearly I wasn't alone in disliking the inferior imports!
A group of Australian Garlic growers met in Waikerie in May 2009 (a few hours north of Adelaide on the Murray River) to discuss the finer points of growing Australian Garlic and it was good to meet the few scattered farmers across the nation learning to grow this important crop.
Since then Graeme and I have visited some farms and it is interesting to learn how similar varieties grow in different soils and climates.
The world has hundreds of different garlic’s and we’ve only tested a few. So for starters there’s excitement about growing new varieties. Improving biodiversity matters at Elmswood, to ensure genetic security in the future, so diversifying our garlic is all important.
We’ve erected a new area to dry/cure the garlic and our new tractor is a big help. After 24 years of using second hand old tractors we traded in two and bought a new one.
We don’t have enough places to hang our organic garlic for personal use, so suddenly there are hooks going up everywhere around the homestead so we can dangle some more bunches.
