01/26/2026
Happy New Year, friends! I feel like we are finally slowing down and settling into winter. Garlic has been on my agenda for weeks and I caught it just in time. Since harvest in July and then weeks of drying/curing, this Mink Farm-grown garlic has been kept in a paper bag in a cool dark spot and it’s kept amazingly well!
The biggest and best heads were selected in late October to plant for 2026 harvest – roughly 30 heads went back in the ground, as well as some new varieties.
A huge pile of cloves went into fresh fire cider flavored vinegar and I’ve also been using the garlic regularly in my cooking.
But every winter, when the garlic needs to be used up, this is our family’s favorite way to preserve it. I roast the heads, pull out the cloves, and store them in oil in the fridge. The garlic is so soft that you can smear it on bread or purée it into a sauce and it has theeee most incredible flavor.
This was juuuuuust about sprouted. When used raw, sprouted garlic actually holds some health benefits, but alas, I roasted it all to allow it to keep longer. It is so soft now the sprouts blend right in. And now we have delicious roasted garlic in the fridge that comes in handy in SO MANY ways. Tonight we made homemade pizza and sauce with our homegrown tomatoes and roasted galic. It was just as delicious as it sounds!
Garlic is a fun and fairly simple crop to grow. It took me a few years to get it right but once you get it, it’s a breeze. I love that we also get a June harvest of scapes. We used tons of the scapes on our blacktop griddle amd I also pickled them this year and they were delicious!
