Classic Gardening Magazine
Gardening as it ought to be
Go easy on the garlic, Johnnie Foreigner!
There is a smelly foreign invader lurking on p133 of Dr D G Hessayon’s The Vegetable and Herb Expert, and it’s called ... garlic.
Now I’m a big an of the Doc. So are plenty of other people. His Expert series sell by the million. He’s certainly given me plenty of clear, straightforward advice, supplemented with handy pictures, on a whole range of gardening matters.
So naturally I turned to him when my garlic’s greenery was toppling over. Some people say you should cut the leaves back in the later stages of growth to encourage the bulb to fatten. Others that you should leave it in the ground until the greenery is dried and yellow. I took the Doc’s advice, but noticed the dire warning he gives about using garlic.
“If you are a beginner with garlic,” he says, “you must use it very sparingly or you will be put off for ever. Rub a wooden salad bowl with a clove before adding the ingredients. Rub the skin of poultry before roasting and they you can try dropping a whole unskinned [his italics] clove into a casserole or stew, removing it before serving. If by then you have lost a little of your garlic fear, you can try using crushed (not chopped) garlic in meat etc as the Continentals do.”
Ah, the Continentals with their fancy ways.
I was surprised at the Doc for this. My edition is only seven years old, but I wonder whether he ought to make a few tweaks before the next reprint? Just to bring the book into the 20th century. We’ll worry about the 21st later.
His advice on sourcing your garlic bulbs for planting is sound. Get them at the greengrocer’s he says. Quite right. My three bulbs have become 23, and I didn’t pay fancy Continental prices for them either, although they did come from a French Auchan supermarket.
The Doc is not alone in his suspicion of garlic. According to one myth, when Satan left the Garden of Eden, garlic grew up in his left footprints, onions in his right. Which proves it: the Devil is French.
But the Garlic Information Centre champions the silvery bulb, pointing it out that it can help reduce cholesterol, cuts the risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, and even counter impotence because of its beneficial effects on the circulation. So that’s where those Continentals get their ardour from.
I’m waiting for the garlic to dry before platting most of it, but I might just make some soup with a couple of bulbs. The thing is, I’m spoilt for choice. There’s Spanish garlic soup, Italian garlic soup, Brazilian garlic soup or, for something a little less Continental, American garlic and tomato soup
There is a smelly foreign invader lurking on p133 of Dr D G Hessayon’s The Vegetable and Herb Expert, and it’s called ... garlic.
Now I’m a big an of the Doc. So are plenty of other people. His Expert series sell by the million. He’s certainly given me plenty of clear, straightforward advice, supplemented with handy pictures, on a whole range of gardening matters.
So naturally I turned to him when my garlic’s greenery was toppling over. Some people say you should cut the leaves back in the later stages of growth to encourage the bulb to fatten. Others that you should leave it in the ground until the greenery is dried and yellow. I took the Doc’s advice, but noticed the dire warning he gives about using garlic.
“If you are a beginner with garlic,” he says, “you must use it very sparingly or you will be put off for ever. Rub a wooden salad bowl with a clove before adding the ingredients. Rub the skin of poultry before roasting and they you can try dropping a whole unskinned [his italics] clove into a casserole or stew, removing it before serving. If by then you have lost a little of your garlic fear, you can try using crushed (not chopped) garlic in meat etc as the Continentals do.”
Ah, the Continentals with their fancy ways.
I was surprised at the Doc for this. My edition is only seven years old, but I wonder whether he ought to make a few tweaks before the next reprint? Just to bring the book into the 20th century. We’ll worry about the 21st later.
His advice on sourcing your garlic bulbs for planting is sound. Get them at the greengrocer’s he says. Quite right. My three bulbs have become 23, and I didn’t pay fancy Continental prices for them either, although they did come from a French Auchan supermarket.
The Doc is not alone in his suspicion of garlic. According to one myth, when Satan left the Garden of Eden, garlic grew up in his left footprints, onions in his right. Which proves it: the Devil is French.
But the Garlic Information Centre champions the silvery bulb, pointing it out that it can help reduce cholesterol, cuts the risk of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, and even counter impotence because of its beneficial effects on the circulation. So that’s where those Continentals get their ardour from.
I’m waiting for the garlic to dry before platting most of it, but I might just make some soup with a couple of bulbs. The thing is, I’m spoilt for choice. There’s Spanish garlic soup, Italian garlic soup, Brazilian garlic soup or, for something a little less Continental, American garlic and tomato soup
