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Garlic an Essential in So Many Dishes
July 1, 2009
Garlic an Essential in So Many Dishes
Farmers' Markets
DENISE MILLER
For the Albuquerque Journal
Can you imagine spaghetti sauce, pot roast or a stir-fry without the pungent, aromatic flavor of garlic?
Garlic is grown around the world and is plentiful throughout the year in fresh and powdered forms. Stores generally sell elephant garlic (the extra big cloves) and regular-size garlic. So is all garlic the same?
"Not even close," says Eli Burg of Chispas Farm. "We sell about 50 varieties of garlic available at different times throughout the season at the Downtown Albuquerque and Nob Hill Growers' Markets, and they have very individual flavors and uses."
Burg and his partner, Amanda Mione, aren't typical farmers when it comes to garlic. Helping with a national garlic seed-saving project called Seed Savers Exchange of Decorah, Iowa, the two grow 330 varieties of garlic at their farm just beyond the Albuquerque city limits.
According to Burg, some garlic varieties are so mild they can be eaten raw in salads, others are perfect for salsa and hummus, while more pungent varieties are best cooked in sauces or stirfried.
A bounty in N.M.
Garlic loves the sandy and clay soils of New Mexico, making it a plentiful crop to find at growers' markets across the state.
When you buy garlic grown in New Mexico, you get garlic with much more flavor than that of distant imports like that from China, where a large percentage of U.S. garlic originates. That's because of the distance traveled.
Some varieties of garlic can last nine to 12 months, but after it has been kept in cold storage when traveling long distances -- where it "thinks" it is winter -- it thinks spring has arrived once it warms up in your drawer, and so it sprouts. While you can still eat garlic that has sprouted, chances are it will have lost its flavor and it will be time to throw it away.
By buying garlic grown in New Mexico, you will help reduce your carbon footprint. You also will likely find a better selection of varieties here, both hardneck and softneck.
"Hardnecks tend to come up earlier in the season, have smaller bulbs, softer peel and therefore ... don't keep as long, but they have a more pronounced flavor and are usually the garlic that win taste tests every time," says South Valley grower Michael Reed.
Almost all supermarket garlic is a softneck variety because it is easier to grow and plant mechanically. It also keeps longer than hardnecks.
Softneck garlic is usually the kind you see braided, but Mione does early season garlic braids with beautiful, purple hardneck Turban garlic.
In late summer and through the fall, look for popular softneck varieties like the Silverskin (white papery skin, keeps longest) and Artichoke (larger cloves, purple blotches, mild flavor), as well as the creole varieties that have a nutty flavor.
While this growing season has so far been unusual in the early May warm-up that was followed by a wet and cool June, garlic crops south of Albuquerque and north of Santa Fe seem to be doing fine.
"My garlic patch actually looks better than ever," notes Stan Crawford of El Bosque Garlic Farm in Dixon. Crawford, a longtime presence at the Santa Fe Farmers' Market and author of "A Garlic Testament," published in 1994, says he sells about three to four kinds at market.
"For me it's not too practical to grow too many kinds. I like to keep the bookkeeping and the storage simple, though we always try a few new ones. But, tastes change, and there is much more interest in garlic now than there was 30 years ago when we first started," Crawford says.
Some people may believe garlic keeps evil spirits away, but in my house, it just means dinner is served.
SKORDALIA
Prep: 30 minutes
Yield: About 2-3 cups
1½ pounds of potatoes for boiling (New Mexico grown, if available)
6-12 cloves of New Mexico-grown garlic, minced or grated (to taste)
1 cup of extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup red or white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon of salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
Fresh squeezed lemon juice (to taste)
Peel the potatoes and boil in salted water until well done and easily pierced with a fork. Drain. Sprinkle the potatoes with pepper and mash.
In a food processor or with a hand mixer, purée the potatoes and garlic until well mixed, about 30-45 seconds. Still puréeing, slowly add the olive oil and vinegar, alternating between them, tasting as you go, until the mixture is smooth.
Skordalia should be creamy and thick (about the consistency of ketchup). If it gets too thick, add a little cold water (not more than ¼ cup). You can also add lemon juice at the end, if you like.
