Last night we held our inaugural taste test festival!!!   We only had four judges...and it was held over a dinner of soba noodles, cheese and wine...but what glamorous garlic officials they were - the results are out!

The garlic was ROASTED for 40 mins in foil with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
Included in the test was one store bought non-organic bulb of garlic from China.

This is a no holds barred, non censored survey!  The judges didn't agree on everything, and each person had a different favourite!

 For customers who have purchased our seven variety Heritage Garlic Packs please share your flavour insights in the COMMENTS section! Please note how you cooked the garlic, because the comparisons will change depending on whether they're roasted, stir fried, raw, etc!  Thanks!

Garlic Glamorist Sheniz Kassam
1. Puslinch - sweet, tender
2. Spanish Roja- 
3.Yugoslavian Porcelain - mild, dull
4. German Red - small bite, pungent smell
5. Persian Star - earthy, creamy
6. Georgian Fire - dull/ brick
7. Leningrad - like banana, mild/ friendly
8. China Store bought garlic - lemony, sweet

Garlic Grower Cara Conroy-Low
1. Puslinch - mild, round
2. Spanish Roja-  lively, multi layered and strong
3.Yugoslavian Porcelain - starchier texture like potato, less hot than German Rd
4. German Red - spicy hint on tongue, leaves a hot taste, like durian fruit, red wine
5. Persian Star - white wine, mild, smooth
6. Georgian Fire - slightly 'green' spice taste
7. Leningrad - nice, not spicy
8. China Store bought garlic - sour flavour, pungent, not spicy

Garlic Go Getter Denise Haugh
1. Puslinch - round
2. Spanish Roja-  subtle with a hint of flame, delicate
3.Yugoslavian Porcelain - similar to persian star, but a little stronger, round taste.
4. German Red - sting-y, stronger than persian star
5. Persian Star - soft mellow, a little heat at end, round.
6. Georgian Fire - hotter than persian star and puslinch
7. Leningrad -like persian star, no bite at the end.
8. China Store bought garlic - some fire, most round.

Garlic Go Go Michelle Heinz: 
1. Puslinch - fuzzy
2. Spanish Roja-  subtle with a hint of flame, delicate
3.Yugoslavian Porcelain - starchy like potato with a touch of heat at the end
4. German Red - hard shell, sweet, long heat on tongue after
5. Persian Star - round sweet full, spicy flavour
6. Georgian Fire - hot, starchy
7. Leningrad - sweet, light, delicate,
8. China Store bought garlic - overkill, hot after, least mild.

Garlic Scape RECIPES

-Many different & delicious ways to cook Scapes:

Grill, roast, broil or saute them in olive oil or butter, as you would asparagus. Use them in omelets, stir fries, and even chopped fine in mashed potatoes, pasta, salads or bread dough.  In the photo above, at Clear Sky's retreat kitchen, we're serving them up grilled, with some olive oil, salt and pepper, along with roasted yams.

- Scape PESTO recipe:

Chop 1 pound of garlic scapes into 3 inch lengths then process in food processor until pureed. Add 1 cup parmesan & 1 cup pine nuts and process until smooth. Slowly add ½ to 1 cup olive oil as the food processor runs and continue until all the oil is combined into the garlic. Add salt to taste. Store in an air-tight jar in the refrigerator & Enjoy!

-Garlic scape PICKLES recipe:

Clear Sky Farm is offering jars of mindfully made pickled garlic scapes for sale from this season's scapes.  Or, you can make your own, using fresh garlic scapes available from us or at most local farmers markets.

Combine 2 litres water with 2 litres natural vinegar.  Add 8 tablespoons of pickling salt, and bring to the boil.  Meanwhile, cut the scapes into whatever size you'd like, (not minced though) and fill clean jars with the garlic scapes.  Once the vinegar, water & salt has come to the boil, fill the scape jars with this liquid.  Add some pickling spices like pepper, dill seed, cayenne if you like.  Finally cover the jars with canning lids and bring them boil , completely covered for 10 minutes.  They'll keep a really long time that way.

Pickling has been used for centuries to preserve food. The above scape pickle recipe is the 'fast' pickling method. There are other lacto-fermented scape pickling recipes that are even healthier and nutritious - fermented full of healthy microbes and more.   I'll post some of those recipes later when I get a chance.

ENJOY!

At this June's meditation retreat, we have been lucky enough to savour something very new for dinner - weeds. No, not just our pesky monkey minds, but well, lambsquarters. Charles our fabulous retreat chef cooked them up after our gardening karma yogini Penny harvested them from our (chemical free) field.

Our chef told me that he dunked them in boiling water for one minute, drained them, then added a dash of safflower oil, salt and pepper.  They were dark green & delicious!  Our farm's crop of heritage garlic is still about a month away from harvest but lambsquarters would go great with garlic & a bit of butter too. 

The high nutrition in the lambsquarters was evident on sight and taste - Heres what wikipedia says about lambsquarters:  Lamb's quarters is a close cousin to spinach, but far, far more nutritious. It ranks right up there with Dandelion, Watercress and Nettles as one of nature’s nutritional powerhouses.

I like this reminder about questioning what we consider good and bad: (Re: lambsquarters on this website:) Now considered an invasive weed in many parts...How low it has fallen from its once honoured position as a cultivar of the Old World, where it enjoyed some considerable esteem for its nutritional properties and mild flavour.

So, don't toss the lambsquarters! Eat em! Enjoy!