St. Louis, MO 63144
Ph: 314-862-COOK (2665)
Mon-Sat 9:30 am to 5:30 pm
Sun 12 to 5 pm
In your tummy. Today, we dug all of our 2,000 heads of garlic and fresh garlic tastes best when eaten fresh. If 2,000 people each bought one head of garlic at Kitchen Conservatory, our storage problem would be solved! Come on in and taste how delicious freshly-dug garlic is! Fresh garlic is not bitter, but sweet and juicy.
Like most produce, garlic is not improved with aging. But since garlic is a once-a-year crop, we store garlic so that we will have plenty to eat during the coming year. How much garlic will we consume in one year? About 250 heads.
Here are some tips for storing garlic:
1. Garlic needs to dry. Garlic is moist when dug and it will rot if not allow to dry out. Do not put garlic in a plastic bag or in the refrigerator. Place the garlic heads in an open well-ventilated basket. Do not separate the garlic head into cloves. Tight heads store better than individual cloves.
2. Garlic likes to be cool. Do not stack the garlic on top of each other, because the garlic will produce heat. Dry, dark basements are a great place to keep garlic. If the garlic is stored properly, it should last until next year’s crop is harvested — June 2012.
The pictures show the entire garlic stalk, which looks like a giant leek. We will trim the leaves and stalks and the hairy roots. The only part of the garlic plant that is edible is the white bulb. It’s amazing how large most plants are for how little of the plant is eaten. I always get an quizzical reaction in cooking classes when we trim the inedible parts of an artichoke to get to the delicious heart. Most plants arrive at the store already trimmed, but gardeners know that their compost heap is full of garlic greens, corn stalks, potato leaves, tomato branches, and squash leaves and roots.
store information
Mon-Sat 9:30 am to 5:30 pm
Sunday 12 to 5 pm
9011 Manchester Road
St. Louis, MO 63144
314-862-COOK (2665)
I purchased garlic from you about two weeks ago. Do you have any more? I would like to order some again. It was the best garlic I have had in years!
This garlic by far makes the best Pico de Gallo. I typed up our recipe and showed some love to Kitchen Conservatory. Check it out:
In a glass or plastic mixing bowl add:
• Roma tomatoes, finely diced (Why Roma? They are meatier have less juice and have a great taste for Pico or any type of salsa.)
• 1 large sweet Vidalia, finely minced or 1 large red onion, finely minced (whatever you prefer).
• 4 medium stocks of green onion, finely minced
• 2 fresh Jalapeno or Serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
• 4 Banana peppers, seeded and chopped
• ¼ dried and ground Cayenne pepper
• 1 whole bunch fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 6 large cloves of garlic from Kitchen Conservatory (about 1 head)
• 1 avocado (cubed and added at the end)
• Salt/pepper/ground cumin (to taste)
• 1 lime, juiced
1. It is your preference to use a food processor, but my household scoffs at using one with Pico and prefer to hand chop all of it. We do it as a family for a fun activity. If you don’t have this luxury then use a food processor, but be careful to not over process it or you will be eating mush instead of beautiful Pico de Gallo. Be sure to pulse and quickly remove your ingredients.
2. In a medium glass/plastic bowl, combine all ingredients. Add fresh ground cayenne, season with salt, pepper and cumin to taste as everyone likes things a certain
saltiness and adding these items a little at a time is more controllable. Mix well and add the Avocado last. Put into three small pints or one quart jar and a pint. This makes a great gift!
3. Refrigerate for about an hour to marinate.
Mary
Thank you, Mary, for a great recipe! Yes, I am shipping more fresh garlic to you!