We all became rather alarmed after many episodes with what we consider foul tasting and smelling garlic purchased in the summer markets of France in recent years. More and more was tossed into the garbage. What had happened to this precious precious ingredient we all wondered ?
Because even the organic stuff was bad! Slice into a piece and it smelt woody and off. One tiny piece would ruin an entire dish ! So that meant smelling literally each clove before using them! I can't tell you how many heads of garlic I threw out but it was getting expensive.
Passing some of the year in New Mexico as I do, I chatted up two folks at the Santa Fe Farmers Market selling a astonishing array of the stuff. Avrum and Kirsten Katz of Boxcar Farms, Llano, New Mexico who offer easily over thirty varieties. Kirsten had lived in France, spoke french and so we quickly identified each other as members of the same tribe. Avrum is a poet and second generation garlic farmer. Both are passionate garlic hunters. Wild garlic hunt they do in the wetter areas of New Mexico each spring!
Wonderful wonderful book. I highly recommend getting it for your library. I asked Mr Crawford what he thought might be happening with all of this bad garlic in France ?
For one, a lot of our garlic here in France has been coming from...are you sitting down? Argentina. Or China. Alot of the stuff you see down in the Provençal markets, garlic braids, transformed into pickled garlic or garlic confit etc is coming from China. Sorry to tell you that folks!
Stanley said perhaps it was simply moisture and the way it was stored. The garlic wasn't "drying out" as it should. But wouldn't that mean mold? Something that would be visible, I asked ? Not necessarily he said.
So maybe all of that time in the hold of a ship on the trip between China or South America and France was the culprit ? While the storage and travel seemed to be part of the problem we weren't convinced that was the whole story.
My garlic guy at the market here in Paris spoke of nematode worms affecting all french alums : garlic onions etc. He said it wasn't an "easy" plant. Hummmm. Gee I've seen wild garlic growing all over Italy and it looks pretty easy to grow to me! And there again if there was a worm problem.you would think you could see some evidence of rot or insect visit. Still not satisfied.
Back to Boxcar Farm, Llano, New Mexico. Kirsten said there was a french garlic that she would very much like to try out growing at their farm in Dixon : The famous L'Ail Rose de Lautrec . This is a protected plant species in France. Gets a special label rouge like a Bordeaux wine or St Marcellin cheese. Has a beautiful pink blush color and is delicious! I said I'd look into it and send some the next year.
Then the A ha! moment. We figured out that the french farmer had probably irradiated his braids before sending them to me. Killing any growing part of the plant. Was this the culprit?
Kirsten wrote asking him if indeed he had irradiated this garlic before sending it to her. No reply. I wrote. No reply. Nice!!!! French!
I went back to another Ail de Lautrec supplier who said Yes, irradiation was not supposed to have any effect other than killing the germ of the plant. It helped the garlic "keep longer" Irradiation was supposed to be "harmless" and indeed this doesn't even have to be mentioned on the label: "This product has been irradiated" His wasn't irradiated he said but alot was! L'horreur! So perhaps this was the reason?
It seems to me that it must have some effect. I can very well imagine that all the overseas garlic gets zapped before it hits European markets can't you?
Another piece of the puzzle came from Italy, the home of one of the finest
Italian Garlic's : Aglio di Vessalico .
Italians take their garlic very seriously as you might imagine. Aglio di Vessalico has the protection of the Slow Food Presidio and that should give you some idea of just how important this plant is to the Italian foodchain.
We sent our representatives down for their annual garlic festival in Liguria on the 2nd of July and they came back with the goods in the form of several long braids of the stuff.
As well as council from a Mr Franco Cha of Aquila d'Arroscia. He said that our beautiful garlic braid was in fact, still growing. In winter hibernation but still growing . It needed to be kept in the light. Not in a dark place. And to use the garlic from top to bottom so that the bottom most heads remained attached to their long dry stalks.Like this, if treated properly this garlic would make it through the winter til about March when next years garlic shoots would be popping up! What he said makes sense doesn't it ?
Our garlic braids are living things. There is a reason for buying garlic in a braid and it is not just for kitchen decoration folks.
All very well and good Franco if you have braids and braids of it. I had just the one this year. So I decided we would go the garlic confit way. I'd done 10 or so jars this summer, some for Mom who has become quite addicted and the rest to send out with David to our New Mexico family, The Wong Wagners. Tiger's friend Vincent calls it "pissing garlic" because of all of the juicy olive oil that spits out of it as you eat it, skin and all.
Because in our disgust at the French Garlic situation , I'd bought home to France a whole load of BoxCar Garlic. Kilos and kilos of it. Sharing all with my fellow garlic lovers. We had planted some. And eaten alot. Stef found a recipe for garlic confit from chef Alain Ducasse.
Here it is more or less as Alain does it with a few additions of my own:
Preheat your oven to 100 C ( 215 F)
Crowd these into a heavy cast iron casserole/dutch oven,
You will need at least a wine bottles worth ( 75cc) of decent olive oil. Nothing fancy. But not junk either. It will be heated so alot of the precious aromatics of an extra virgin olive oil will be lost.
Two sprigs of fresh Rosemary, A nice generous bunch of thyme ( I like lemon thyme), a coffee spoonful of good black peppercorns and a large spoonful of sea salt.
Pop this in the oven, uncovered for one hour. Test a piece after an hour and see how it feels, tastes. It should be somewhat gooey and kind of caramelized. And delicious. You will be tempted to eat the lot.
When your garlic has about 20 minutes to go, boil your jars for fifteen minutes in a bubbling hot water bath. Pull the jars out with long tongs and place them mouth side down onto a clean kitchen towel so that they can dry and drain at the same time. This should only take about a minute or two.
Pot up your hot garlic in the still warm jar. Not too tightly but pretty tightly! Pour over some of the remaining hot oil til about a half an inch of the top of the jar carefully covering every clove of garlic confit. I put one piece of lemon peel ( none of the white) in mine at this point for a little extra umph!
Pop the covers on your jars, leaving just a little bit of play left for the seal of the lid to go down as they cool..When they have cooled completely. Give them a last twist to close and pop them in the root cellar til needed! No root cellar? A cool dry dark place then.
As you can see, one braid of garlic doesn't make a whole lot! I had about 8 heads and it made about 1 1/2 cups worth of garlic confit! Not a huge amount! I made one big jar but suggest many little jars. Finishing them off one at a time throughout the winter! Giving away a few to real garlic aficionados. It's practically candy for people that like salty food!
Hopefully your jars of garlic confit will last until June when you start all over again! I guarantee you will will be putting up double the quantity next year, so good is this.
So all you need now is a supplier of good garlic. Big Smile. I'll leave you all to organize your next batch !
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