Garlic is an ancient crop, with origins in Mesopotamia, China and Egypt dating back thousands of years. As a member of the Alliaceae family, garlic (Allium sativum) is related to onions, shallots, and leeks. It has a long history in folk medicine as a treatment for everything from arthritis to snake bites. All parts of the plants are edible, but most commonly we consume the bulb, cooked, raw or powdered. Garlic has a strong, spicy flavour that mellows and sweetens with cooking. Sulfur compounds are responsible for their pungent smell and spiciness and are the component that leads to ‘garlic breath’.
Garlic is incredibly versatile and plays a large part in the cuisines of eastern Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, northern Africa, southern Europe, and parts of Latin America. Garlic was brought to Canada by immigrants who shared their love of this herbaceous vegetable.
Types:
You might notice that garlic bulbs come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colours. There are indeed hundreds of varieties grown worldwide. However, Canadian-grown garlic is generally the medium-sized, papery white bulbs that can be eaten at different growth stages:
- Green Garlic – Green garlic is a young garlic plant that is harvested before maturity. Sometimes known as baby garlic or spring garlic, it has long slender leaves and looks similar to a green onion. Depending on the time of harvest, there will sometimes be a small cluster of cloves at the end of the stalk with a pink or purple tinge. Green garlic is typically available in March or April when farmers are thinning their garlic fields. It has a milder flavour than full-grown garlic and less heat. Green garlic is typically found at farmers’ markets in the spring.
- Garlic Scapes – Scapes are the flowering stalk produced by certain varieties of garlic. They are green, curly and straw-shaped and have a mild sweet taste like chives or scallions, with a hint of garlicky heat. Scapes are harvested in early summer (June or July) to allow the plant to put more energy into growing the bulb. Pickled garlic scapes can often be found at farmers’ markets and specialty stores.
- Garlic Head or Bulb – What we call the garlic head is really the bulb of the garlic plant. The bulb is made up of 4 – 12 cloves. Canadian-grown garlic comes in two main types, winter-hardy hardneck varieties and warmer-climate softneck varieties. Although the flavours vary slightly between the varieties, both produce that savoury heat unique to garlic. In Canada, most of the garlic that is grown is harvested in July and August and sold fresh as whole bulbs.
Garlic spreads and chopped garlic are also available but to a lesser extent. Fresh garlic can be substituted with powdered or granulated garlic in many instances. Did you know? Though widely used as a herb or spice, garlic is botanically a vegetable.
How to Buy:
Buy garlic bulbs with firm cloves and dry skins. Avoid bulbs that have mold or soft spots or are dried out. Green shoots in a bulb are a sign that the garlic is old and beginning to grow inside.
Green garlic and scapes are hard to come by when not in season. They should be clean, dry and free of soft spots and mould. You should avoid yellowing or browning produce.
How to Store:
Store garlic bulbs in a cool, dry place, but not in the fridge since this can stimulate sprouting. Ventilated ceramic garlic keepers or mesh bags are preferable to plastic bags. Unbroken bulbs should last several months; individual cloves should be used within two weeks.
However, green garlic and scapes should be kept in the refrigerator. Green garlic roots should be submerged in water in a tall glass for optimal keeping and used within 5 to 7 days.
Crushed or diced garlic is also available in jars that must be refrigerated after opening.
How to Prepare:
If you don’t have a garlic press, preparing garlic is still easy. Make lengthwise cuts down one side of a clove of garlic, then flip the garlic over and cut it once. You can also gently crush it with the blade of your knife to remove the skin. You’ll then be able to chop it into fine pieces.
Roasting garlic releases its sugars and mellows out the flavour. To do so, slice the top off the garlic bulb and place it on a sheet of tin foil. Drizzle the garlic with canola oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Wrap up the foil and bake at 180C (350F) for approximately 40 minutes. Allow the garlic to cool and then squeeze the bottom of the bulb to release the roasted cloves.
When raw garlic comes into contact with an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar, it may turn a blue-green colour; however, this will not affect its flavour. You often see this when garlic is pickled.
Green garlic and scapes can be used as substitutes for green onions and scallions in many recipes. They are great sauteed in butter or canola oil, stir-fried in Asian cuisines, or diced for omelets, frittatas, soups, and salads.
When substituting powdered garlic for fresh, 1/8th teaspoon = 1 clove.
Nutrition Fact:
How They Are Grown:
Garlic is grown across Canada with around 2,200 acres devoted to its production each year. Ontario has the largest garlic crop, with over 40% of the acreage, followed closely by British Columbia and Quebec.
Garlic plants do not produce seeds. Rather, a single clove from a bulb is planted to produce the plant, making all garlic plants a clone of their parent plant. Garlic is a perennial bulb that requires cool weather to initiate growth. Therefore, a clove is planted in the fall and overwinters in the ground before germinating in the spring. Canadian garlic is harvested in the summer or early fall.
There are two main types of garlic produced in Canada: hardneck varieties and softneck varieties. Hardneck garlic bulbs are more winter hardy and produce anywhere from 4 – 12 cloves per bulb. Hardneck varieties are typically larger and more flavourful than softneck ones. They are also the only varieties that extend a tall, flower stalk called a scape. At the end of the scape, a small capsule will develop called a bulbil which is full of miniature cloves called ‘arial cloves.’ These can also be used to propagate more garlic.
Softneck varieties do not produce scapes. They average 8-12 cloves per bulb, with up to 40 cloves on bulbs grown in warmer temperatures.
Fall garlic is planted between September and late October. Before planting, dry garlic cloves need to be removed from the bulb and cracked and then buried in the earth with the pointed tip facing upwards. Both the cracking and planting can be done by hand or with a garlic planting machine.
Once planted, many growers cover their crop with a layer of mulch to moderate soil temperature and protect the roots and shoots from severe weather. Garlic is sensitive to an excess or lack of water. Many farmers use irrigation methods to ensure their crop gets the right amount of moisture at the right time.
The same sulfur compounds that give garlic its pungent smell help protect it from insects, but farmers still have to watch for soil-borne diseases and fungi that can spoil the bulbs. They monitor the plants throughout the growing season and apply the appropriate pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides) when necessary.
In hardneck varieties, the garlic crop has two harvests. First, the scapes are removed in early summer to allow the plant to push more nutrients into the bulb. The second harvest happens in late summer and can be done by hand or by machine. A blade loosens the bulbs from the soil and a conveyor lifts them while removing the tops and separating the dirt.
Garlic can be eaten fresh out of the ground, but most garlic needs to be cured to extend its shelf life. Like onions, garlic is pulled from the ground and placed in storage to cure using fans and forced air.
After the initial cure, the roots and stems are removed from the bulbs and moved to open wooden bins to continue curing. Hardneck varieties can be kept in storage for up to 7 months while softneck varieties will store for over 12 months with the right temperature and humidity controls.
Garlic can be packaged as whole heads or skinless cloves. This process is often completed with a combination of machine and hand labour.
