Keeping the garlic high and dry

Nearly eight months of working, weeding, and waiting has led up to the past couple of days, during which time we got the bulk of our garlic out of the ground. (A collective “woo-hoo!” would be appropriate now.) As I mentioned in my previous post, Cherry Lane Farm are a very small operation, growing only a couple hundred bulbs -- as opposed to the thousands or tens of thousands that full-time commercial farms produce.

Still, the work is considerable for just two people.

And anyone who has grown onion-like crops can attest to the fact that removal from the ground is just the beginning of the end. For garlic, the next two to three weeks will be critical as we dry the bulbs, toughening the skins with the intent of sealing in the cloves’ flavor and freshness. Drier skins also mean that the bulbs will store longer and are less likely to succumb to mold.

To accomplish this, I recently finished building my first drying rack, which uses an unusual construction compared with what I’ve done in the past. In prior years, I have simply grouped maybe 8-12 bulbs, tied them together, and hung them. This year, drawing from the ideas of the folks at Heartsong Farm in New Hampshire, the drying trays I built require the bulbs to be hung upside down, which you can see in the photos.

The rack allows for each bulb to be strategically placed to maximize airflow around it while maintaining efficiency of space. In a couple of weeks, I’ll be able to cut back the stalks (which will shrivel considerably) and trim the roots off. From there, the bulbs will be ready to be sold to friends and to a couple of restaurants in the Roanoke, Virginia, area.

We primarily sell three varieties:

Siberian: A milder-flavored Marbled Purple Stripe garlic. I used this two years ago in a batch of tzatiki, and it was the best tzatiki I’d ever made.

Inchelium Red: A medium-flavored Artichoke garlic. This is the first year we’ve grown this variety, but it has an award-winning history dating back to the early 1990s.

Persian Star: A medium-flavored Purple Stripe garlic, though I personally believe this is border-line strong-flavored. Expect a very distinctive taste and beautiful bulbs that have purple streaks on them.

Read more about any of these varieties at Gourmet Garlic Gardens.