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| Great garlic: a tasty garden treat that's a family treasure (Fall 2007) |
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By Charles Johnson
Ed Anthony loves his garlic. Really
loves it. Loves growing it, loves
eating it, loves thinking about it.
He loves it so much that he doesn’t
want the special heirloom garlic
grown in his garden near Paducah,
Ky., getting outside the family.
Popping a pickled garlic clove in his
mouth, Anthony explains that he doesn't
know what variety it is. All he knows is that
his great-grandmother brought it to America
when she moved here from Holland.
"It's been here at least 150 years. It's a
big, mild garlic, excellent for cooking. I still
remember my mom growing it where I grew up in Eleanor, W. Va. She grew it behind the
garage, and didn't even tend it much. She
just went out and pulled out some when she
needed it," he says. When his mother's house
sold, Anthony's personal mission was to dig
up and save all the old-time garlic he could.
Gift of garlic.
"It had been in that spot for
50 years, since 1942. She would let it grow
wild, almost, kind of like a bed of daffodils.
And I wanted it," he says. Anthony doesn't
mind sharing the garlic with a few special
people. He gave some to his mother-in-law,
which she planted in a garden in Tennessee.
When her house sold, however, Anthony went down there and dug it up. An obsession?
There are some folks who might call it that.
"It's just so special that I didn't want it
going to people that wouldn't appreciate it
and take good care of it. It grew great down
there in Tennessee. I had to dig it up and take
it home where it belonged, though," he says.
Anthony's garlic is both large-bulbed and
has a mild, subtle flavor. That may mean it's
an elephant garlic, closely related to the leek
rather than to the sharp-flavored, smaller-bulbed
everyday garlic. Gardeners can choose among several garlic varieties. The eye-popping,
big and bulbous elephant garlic, however,
stands in its own category.
Regular garlic, Allium sativum, comes
in two types. Soft-neck garlic is the kind we
normally find in grocery stores. It's relatively
easy to grow and stores well. Its flexible stalk
allows it to be braided. Hard-neck garlic has a
flower-like 'scape' that grows from the top. Its
cloves tend to be larger than soft-neck types,
but also fewer. It has shorter shelf-life, too.
Wards off pests.
Garlic tends to be easy to
grow. Anthony says no pest or disease bothers
his. His main goal is to keep soil loose so the
big bulbs can expand. Planting time can be
either early spring or late fall. One clove will
produce a plant that, in turn, may produce a
bulb with as many as 20 cloves. Garlic may
be interplanted with some vegetables and
helps ward off insect pests among lettuce,
cabbage, and beets. It doesn't do well when
grown with potatoes, peas, or beans, however.
A wealth of folklore focuses on garlic's
supposed powers. Writers have authored a
library of books about garlic’s medicinal properties.
Some say it lowers blood pressure and
reduces LDL (bad) cholesterol. Others insist
that it helps combat allergies and is a good
antibiotic. Fact is, the jury's still out on these
issues. Eat your garlic, if you like, but don't
forget to take your doctor's advice.
Taste tickler.
Margaret Anthony, who shares
her husband Ed's enthusiasm for their homegrown
garlic, uses it in many of her recipes.
"It's always in the cavity of chicken for
baking, smoking, or stewing. My favorite use
is in homemade pizza topping which I make
in summer and freeze for use in the winter, as
we have pizza every Sunday night," she says.
"For the pizza, I saute onions and garlic
in olive oil and remove from the skillet," Anthony
adds. "Then I saute chop zucchini, red
and yellow peppers and add chopped fresh
tomatoes, basil, and flatleaf light parsley from
the herb garden. I return the garlic and onions
to the skillet and simmer until thick. I
grate three cheeses to add to the topping."
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