Season: May to August. Garlic is the strongest-tasting member of the Allium family, and the moodiest too. It can change character considerably depending on how it is treated. Left whole and cooked slowly, it is gentle and soft. Chopped up, it will release a little more of its pungent aroma, while crushed to a paste it attains the strong, sometimes bitter flavor that makes it notorious. When pickled, it remains crisp to the bite, but the flavor becomes really quite mellow – you can eat the cloves straight from the jar. I like to slice the pickled garlic cloves finely and scatter them over salads, serve them whole as antipasti, or nestle lots of them around a slowly roasting joint of lamb. Garlic grows well – not just in the vegetable patch, but also in containers, tubs, and even flower borders, where it can help ward off aphids. New season’s bulbs, with their soft white or purplish pink skins, are mild and sweet – and much better for pickling than older, drier-skinned garlic, which can be bitter.
Recipe information
Yield
makes five 4-ounce jars
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Plunge the garlic in for a mere minute, to help loosen the outer skins. Remove from the water, drain, and pat dry.
Step 2
Have ready 3 warm, sterilized jars (see p. 21). Break the garlic bulbs into individual cloves. Peel the cloves and pack them into the jars, dropping in the fennel seeds, peppercorns, and bay leaves as you go.
Step 3
Put the vinegar, sugar, and saffron into a pan. Bring to a boil and boil for a couple of minutes. Pour the hot vinegar over the garlic, then seal the jars with vinegar-proof lids (see p. 22). Use within 1 year.
P.S.
Step 4
There are two main types of garlic, hardneck and softneck. Hardnecks produce a flowering spike – or scape – which is usually snapped off to encourage the plant to put its energy into the bulb. These scapes have a delicate, fresh garlic flavor and can be used chopped up in salads or to make a green and garlicky pesto.
