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Kinder, gentler green garlic mellows out the menu
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created 4 months ago | Tagged: |
2martens
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Long before "Twilight" and "True Blood" and the Modern Age of Vampires, garlic was used as a talisman: a panacea against bad spirits in the Middle Ages and against illness during the Crusades. Even those of us who happily load our soups and stews with dozens of the pale cloves can tell why it was hung across doorways to prevent entrance. Mature garlic can be overwhelming, even relentless; a single raw clove minced on a board is capable of determining the course of an entire meal, whether you want it to or not.
Green garlic, also called young garlic, is exactly what it sounds like: the green shoots of immature garlic bulbs that have been picked early. Farmers have historically picked green garlic to thin out their crop, bringing baskets of the early greens to market to sell as a secondary crop, a kind of seasonal teaser for what's to come. A pile of the delicate stalks discovered on a market stand in the early weeks of spring can seem like a sudden gift, a dirt-clad promise of fava beans and English peas and the approaching burst of full-on spring produce.
Unlike full-grown bulbs of garlic — which have been dried and come papered with thin layers of husks, as if they've been wrapped in parchment — green garlic can be used in its entirety. The long green stalks, the pale tender bulbs, even the roots can be eaten. Just wash them carefully; as with leeks, another allium, the dirt that engenders the plants can become embedded between the layers as they grow.
Especially if it's quite young, treat green garlic like you would scallion, mincing the whole stalk and adding it to omelets, stir-fries and soups. It's even mild enough to add raw to salads. The garlic flavor will be there, but as background music, able to accompany other flavors rather than override them. When cooked, green garlic mellows further, becoming even sweeter and slightly nutty.
Like the early weeks of spring, green garlic is a fleeting pleasure. Although farmers can grow garlic year-round, it's usually planted in the fall and harvested in late spring, which means that green garlic will appear for a month or two at most in early spring.
