A mixture of two varieties grown by Cacia Huff at Feral Farm:
Dancing Bear Roja: Softneck/artichoke type garlic grown for 25+ years at Dancing Bear farm in Williams, Oregon. Our team loved the creamy texture and bold flavor of this variety, and noted that its spiciness lingers on the tongue. Average 10-12 or more large to medium cloves with thin wrappers. Cloves are approximately 1" each. Mid to late season variety with more variability in bulb size than other artichoke type garlic we grow - most are huge, reaching 3” or more, while others are merely large, around 2”.
Renee's Artichoke: An Applegate Valley local! This golden-hued softneck/artichoke type has been grown locally for over 25 years. Big harvests of consistently enormous heads, many reaching 3” or more in diameter. Cloves are approximately 1" each. Our crew found the flavor to be particularly outstanding raw, with a heat that ambushes you like wasabi. Unlike most varieties, Renee’s Artichoke held its spiciness even after roasting. Average 10-12 or more large to medium cloves with thin wrappers.
A mixture of two varieties grown by Cacia Huff at Feral Farm:
Dancing Bear Roja: Softneck/artichoke type garlic grown for 25+ years at Dancing Bear farm in Williams, Oregon. Our team loved the creamy texture and bold flavor of this variety, and noted that its spiciness lingers on the tongue. Average 10-12 or more large to medium cloves with thin wrappers. Cloves are approximately 1" each. Mid to late season variety with more variability in bulb size than other artichoke type garlic we grow - most are huge, reaching 3” or more, while others are merely large, around 2”.
Renee's Artichoke: An Applegate Valley local! This golden-hued softneck/artichoke type has been grown locally for over 25 years. Big harvests of consistently enormous heads, many reaching 3” or more in diameter. Cloves are approximately 1" each. Our crew found the flavor to be particularly outstanding raw, with a heat that ambushes you like wasabi. Unlike most varieties, Renee’s Artichoke held its spiciness even after roasting. Average 10-12 or more large to medium cloves with thin wrappers.
Garlic is typically planted in the Fall - within two weeks on either side of your first frost date. Break up the bulb, separate the cloves, and tuck each one, still covered in its papery wrapping, about an inch into the soil. I tend to mulch the bed lightly after planting, and add more mulch around the sprouts once they emerge.
Watch your garlic grow slowly through the winter, and pick up pace as the weather warms. In early summer, look out for the loopy scapes - this is the flower stalk of your garlic. It is considered best practice to cut these back before the flowers open, in order to encourage the plant to put its last burst of energy into sizing up its bulb below ground. Garlic scapes have become a farmers market delicacy in the past decade - people pickle them, process them into pesto, and add to dishes for a garlicky bite somewhat more mellow than the flavor of the garlic bulb itself. While I agree with the common wisdom of cutting back the scapes - consider letting one plant go to flower and seed if you have never before seen a garlic in bloom!
Garlic lets you know it is ready for harvest when the bottom two or three leaves of the plant turn yellow and brown. Like with most root crops, you will have best luck harvesting when the soil is relatively dry. Use a digging fork or a shovel to lift them - don’t try to pull them straight up out of the ground by the leaves.
Although you can eat garlic immediately after harvesting it, if you are hoping to store some for any length of time, you will need to cure it for a few weeks. You can shake off any excess loose soil as you harvest, but don’t worry about getting them super clean yet, and definitely do not wash them - keeping the bulbs dry during this time is imperative to be able to store your garlic for a long time. Keep the leaves on the plants and bundle 5-10 of them together with some twine. Hang them to dry out somewhere with adequate airflow but no direct sunlight. The exact timing of your curing process will depend on things like the humidity in the air, but generally 2-4 weeks should do it. All the leaves will turn brown, the papery layers outside of the bulbs will get a little crisp, and you’ll be able to tell the garlic just feels like the garlic you’re used to having in your kitchen.
At this point you can cut back the leaves - make sure to leave almost an inch of neck above the bulb intact - cutting too close to the bulb can expose the bulb to rot. You can also wipe off any remaining dirt, which should now be dry and come off easily with your hand or a dry rag. You can keep some of your garlic in the kitchen for daily use, but if you have a big crop, you can store the remainder in paper bags somewhere cool. The dark and the cold temperatures will delay the bulbs’ desire to eventually sprout, and you can bring more into the kitchen on an as-needed basis.
Compared to other root crops like potatoes and yams, garlic is not very needy about its curing and storage process. You will likely have success without being super specific about things like temperatures and humidity levels. I suspect that one reason for this is that garlic is one of our most anti-microbial vegetables, easily fighting off the forces of aging and decomposition that can more quickly befall some of our other food roots. This same feature makes it a powerful ally during surges of respiratory infections, most effective if taken regularly as a preventative measure or at the very first signs of illness. There has also been a good amount of research showing that it benefits cardiovascular health by reducing blood pressure, and that it has positive effects on the gut microbiome.
Although cooked garlic is not devoid of health benefits, it seems like you can get the most from your garlic by consuming it raw. Breaking down the cell walls allows it to release its healthful powers, so always cut, crush, grate or chew. Eating it straight can induce an unpleasant gag reflex, but there are many ways to get around this. Thinly sliced garlic is delicious on top of a buttered piece of toast and grated garlic is tasty in a salad dressing. If you are going to eat it on its own, I recommend mincing it and then washing down a spoonful with some water, or mixing it with some honey.
-Goda
What the scientific / medical research canon reveals about garlic:
Reduces total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides while increasing HDL cholesterol (Varshney and Budoff 2016).
Lowers blood pressure, particularly in individuals with hypertension (Ried 2016).
Enhances antioxidant status by increasing activity of enzymes like superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase (Borek 2001).
Exhibits anti-inflammatory effects, reducing markers such as IL-6 and CRP in patients with kidney disease (Zare et al. 2019).
Boosts immune system functions, potentially offering protection against common infections (Percival 2016).
Demonstrates antiviral properties, including potential effects against coronaviruses in preliminary studies (Rouf et al. 2020).
Shows antifungal activity against organisms like Candida albicans (Lemar et al. 2005).
Improves blood flow by reducing platelet aggregation and increasing fibrinolytic activity (Rahman and Lowe 2006).
Reduces oxidative stress in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy (Capasso 2013).
Lowers fasting blood glucose levels, suggesting potential benefits for diabetes management (Wang et al. 2017).
Exhibits potential cancer-preventive properties, particularly for certain types of cancer (Nicastro, Ross, and Milner 2015).
Demonstrates neuroprotective effects, potentially reducing the risk of cognitive decline (Borek 2006).
May improve bone health, particularly in postmenopausal women (Mukherjee et al. 2020).
References
Borek, Carmia. “Antioxidant Health Effects of Aged Garlic Extract.” The Journal of Nutrition 131, no. 3 (2001): 1010S–1015S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/131.3.1010S
Borek, Carmia. “Garlic Reduces Dementia and Heart-Disease Risk.” The Journal of Nutrition 136, no. 3 (2006): 810S–812S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.3.810S
Lemar, Katey M., et al. “Allyl Alcohol and Garlic (Allium sativum) Extract Produce Oxidative Stress in Candida albicans.” Microbiology 151, no. 10 (2005): 3257–3265. https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.28230-0
Nicastro, Holly L., Sharon A. Ross, and John A. Milner. “Garlic and Onions: Their Cancer Prevention Properties.” Cancer Prevention Research 8, no. 3 (2015): 181–189. https://doi.org/10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-14-0172
Mukherjee, Mimi, et al. “Role of Periosteum, Vitamin D, and Garlic Intake on Bone Healing: A Review.” Journal of Functional Biomaterials 11, no. 1 (2020): 14. https://doi.org/10.3390/jfb11010014
Rahman, Khalid, and Gordon M. Lowe. “Garlic and Cardiovascular Disease: A Critical Review.” The Journal of Nutrition 136, no. 3 (2006): 736S–740S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.3.736S
Ried, Karin. “Garlic Lowers Blood Pressure in Hypertensive Individuals, Regulates Serum Cholesterol, and Stimulates Immunity: An Updated Meta-analysis and Review.” The Journal of Nutrition 146, no. 2 (2016): 389S–396S. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.114.202192
Rouf, Razina, et al. “Antiviral Potential of Garlic (Allium sativum) and Its Organosulfur Compounds: A Systematic Update of Pre-clinical and Clinical Data.” Trends in Food Science & Technology 104 (2020): 219–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2020.08.005
Varshney, Ravi, and Matthew J. Budoff. “Garlic and Heart Disease.” The Journal of Nutrition 146, no. 2 (2016): 416S–421S. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.114.202192
Wang, Jie, et al. “Effect of Garlic Supplement in the Management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM): A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.” Food & Nutrition Research 61, no. 1 (2017): 1377571. https://doi.org/10.1080/16546628.2017.1377571
Zare, Elham, et al. “The Effects of Garlic Supplementation on Inflammatory Biomarkers in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.” Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome 11, no. 1 (2019): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13098-019-0400-8
