And so today was set aside for the pickling of garlic. Stephanie had grown a huge crop of the elephant variety, which was starting to show signs of not storing as well as she’d like. Pickling then was the obvious choice.
The plaited stalks were stripped of their tops and relegated to the compost heap, and a wheelbarrow load of the knobs of garlic taken around to the cooking school kitchen.
Hours and hours and hours later, with Stephanie and Robert peeling the cloves flat out and me rather more randomly (I was bottling off everything else from yesterday at the same time), almost 6 kilos of garlic cloves sat waiting to be blanched, then to be immersed in a salted, slightly sweetened vinegar.
It was messy work – the floor was covered in garlic husks (see – there was no point cleaning up yesterday, it would have been a wasted effort).
The end result was 16 very attractive jars of pickled garlic cloves, which will be ready for eating in a month’s time.
It will be a good tasting then to be sure as the pickled walnuts will also be fully matured by then.
We just need some delicious cheeses, homemade beers and wine and we will be set for a good evening’s tasting to share with friends and family.
And so for tomorrow – a class here in the morning using produce from the farm and a little beyond from other Valley places, like the whole potful of elderberries to make into cordial and more, as well as a boxful of tomatoes. Should be a fun day.
