June 15, 2025 • 36 mins
In this look back at our season one episode of "Yard to Table," hosts Ellen and Trevor discuss the easier-than-you-might-think crop to grow in your yard - Garlic! This self-sustaining gem of the garden has been around for literally thousands of years and is an all-star for your home cooking in many surprising ways. Can you say "scape"?
And to see what's happening with Ellen and Trevor at Stonebrook House follow @stonebrookhouse on Instagram today!
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Follow Yard to Table on Instagram at @yard_to_table_podcast 🌱🍽️ and see what’s happening with Ellen and Trevor by following @stonebrookhouse. And don't forget to follow, like and leave a review wherever you listen to the show! TY 💙
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Trevor (00:00):
Oh. Well, hello, Ellen.
Ellen (00:15):
Well, hello, Trevor.
Trevor (00:16):
We're doing something a little bit different today.
Ellen (00:19):
We are. I was in the garden.
Trevor (00:22):
Yes, as we often find in the garden, correct? Thats not
new news,
Ellen (00:26):
and it's a really fun time because the garlic scapes
are popping.
Trevor (00:32):
Ah, tis scape season it is.
Ellen (00:35):
And as I was making, literally, an armful of scape
bracelets, yes, I wascollecting.
Trevor (00:42):
I saw that
Ellen (00:43):
I did not have a basket with me. I just
Trevor (00:45):
Were not always together. And so sometimes I see
the things that you do, but thatI post on the on our own
Instagram @stonebrookhouse. So Ilooked on, I got an alert, and
it said, look at your phoneagain. And I said, Okay, I'll
just do it this one time,because I don't usually go on my
phone at all, and there you werewith a Madonna-esque scenario of
(01:10):
scapes,
Ellen (01:12):
yes, well, as soon as I saw them, I had to start
collecting them. So of course, Ididn't have a basket, and I
thought, well, it was like animmediate scape collection. I'm
gonna, I'm gonna rock thisgarlic scape bracelet, because I
could have easily walked back tothe, no own it to the potting
bench and gotten the basket, butown the bracelet anyway. I loved
it. It was fun. It is fun. But,you know, I realized we released
(01:34):
an episode on garlic. Yes, wedid in our first season. We did
that was in the fall, so sort ofwas late, way later, which
helps, which help for futureplanning.
Trevor (01:43):
That's true. But also, we had a lot to say
Ellen (01:46):
we did.
Trevor (01:46):
It was a lot happening in the beginning,
Ellen (01:48):
so I think it would be a good idea to share it with
everybody again, now,
Trevor (01:51):
sort of in situ, as it were, since this is the time,
Ellen (01:55):
it is the season.
Trevor (01:56):
And I think this way, if you listen to our episode from
season one, you can get all ofthe tips, and hopefully you
planted your garlic. And soyou're at the point where you
have those scapes right now. Ithink we had a recipe, and lots
of recipes, we'd say, scapesalt, we'd all sorts of stuff
that we want you guys to all beable to listen to right now,
since it's in the season, andthen you can enjoy and get ready
(02:21):
for all the loveliness that isstill only a very short period
of time away when it comes toactual garlic harvesting.
Ellen (02:28):
Yes, that'll be in July.
But, and here's the thing too,you'll be ready for that. You'll
be ready and if you aren'tgrowing garlic, no worries. All
of your local farmers marketsare soon going to be full,
inundated with scapes that youcan buy and try and make some
recipes too. So we think it's areal it's a good idea,
Trevor (02:47):
yeah, and we'll be back next week with another episode,
a brand new episode of Yard toTable. But for now, yeah, I felt
like this was a good time
Ellen (02:55):
So for now, enjoy growing the Stinking Rose garlic
from season one of Yard toTable.
Trevor (03:01):
Well, hi there, Ellen.
Ellen (03:03):
Well, hello there, Trevor.
Trevor (03:05):
Here we are. Another fantastic episode of yard to
table. Exciting. It's superexciting. I say that a lot,
don't I? You do say exciting alot, but things are exciting. I
mean, that's, think that's oneof the cool things we it's
something new in the garden, inthe yard every single day.
Ellen (03:22):
Yes, and being able to do this and talk about it, and
obviously share our enthusiasmabout it. There's a lot of it.
There's a lot of it, is reallyincredibly cool.
Trevor (03:32):
Not all. It's not always good out there. It's always it's
always exciting.
Ellen (03:36):
But you know what? It's good on here, on this podcast?
Trevor (03:40):
That's true. It is always good. It is always good.
Welcome to yard, to table, thepodcast, where we talk about
food, we talk aboutentertaining, we talk about
recipes, we talk about growingeverything in our yard, which is
all centered around our 11 acreConnecticut homestead called
stone Brook. That's right. Andmy name is Ellen Sher crafts,
(04:01):
and I am Trevor Crafts, andwelcome everybody here. We are
talking today. What are wetalking about? Trevor, the
Stinking Rose. Wait, let meguess that's garlic. Wrong. No,
you're right. It is it isgarlic. It is garlic. I didn't
even know where I you know, I'veheard that there's a restaurant
called the Stinking Rose. I'vealways known that it was called
(04:23):
the Stinking Rose.
Ellen (04:24):
Is that a Shakespearean term?
Trevor (04:26):
You know, I thought it was too. I 100% thought it was
too, but it's not telling me hewas, it was. It was actually a
French, French, very Frenchwriter and physician named Henri
Leclerc,
Ellen (04:43):
very nice. Yeah. Thank you. So to our listeners. Trevor
has an incredible ability toaccents. You can leave in the
comments whether you want tohear more,
Trevor (04:52):
which I'm sure everybody will automatically. I'm sure
listeners, you do like accents.
We all know that. So. HenriLeclerc, he translated the Greek
for the name. This is the accentpart. This is the French accent
Ellen (05:08):
Yeah, can we just skip that part?
Trevor (05:09):
Okay, fine. So he translated it and came up with
the Stinking Rose. So
Ellen (05:16):
that's fascinating. And was it because it looked like a
rose, because it doesn't?
Trevor (05:20):
So it's all from the Greek skoradon, yes, and that
translates down through Frenchinto the English, Stinking Rose.
Amazing. Language isfascinating. So my accent game
is strong. I think we can allagree on that what's not so
encouragement necessary, what'snot so strong is my
understanding about agentcivilization. So I did have to
(05:42):
look this up, because we weretalking about garlic today, but
I wanted to know how long, youknow, we've been eating garlic,
not you and I, but just us ashumans. It has to be 7000 years.
It's a long time.
Ellen (05:56):
That's a long time. And I think this always goes back to
a conversation you and I have alot. What drove the first person
to try garlic?
Trevor (06:06):
It's amazing because it's, it's, I mean, in its raw
form,
Ellen (06:09):
desperation. I think that's it. Watching animals not
die.
Trevor (06:15):
Watching not death is always a plus. It's always a
plus. Okay, that's safe. I'lltry that. Yeah, where all of our
food comes from, and how longwe've been eating these things
that we grow in our yard.
Amazing. Is actually fascinatingto know how much time and energy
has been spent cultivating allof these different fruits and
vegetables and things that wegrow. It's not just, you know,
(06:36):
it's not just a week
Ellen (06:39):
well, right? And then how many different varieties
there are? I mean, there are,there is a lot
Trevor (06:44):
of just garlic, just garlic. Oh yeah, just garlic.
It's 38 and it's basically, youhave really been doing your
research. I'm this is, this iswhat we do. I know this is our
thing. Very impressed. Keepgoing two different kinds.
Generally, there's two differentkinds for everybody out. If you
know this already, moreexperienced gardeners are going
to know this. But if you're juststarting with your your yard,
(07:04):
and what you can put into youryard, essentially, you've got
two different types. There'ssoft neck. That means that they
don't produce a stalk. There'sthere's no garlic flour there.
And that's the stuff thatusually you're going to see in
like, you know, grocery stores,and that's the all the varieties
Ellen (07:21):
breeding, of the of the styles, the one that you breed.
Trevor (07:25):
Yes, I know this because we grow hard neck. Garlic,
that's right, yeah, we grow hardneck. I mean, soft necks got all
sorts of different. Black garlicis a soft French. Red is a soft
garlic, soft neck garlic,elephant garlic actually isn't
garlic. Stop. What is it? It isactually a it's a onion. Oh,
(07:48):
wow. Now we grow hard neckgarlic. That's what we've been
putting in into the yard. Ithink there's a big taste
difference between hard neck andsoft.
Ellen (07:59):
And once you've had it, regardless of what variety you
are trying, it also tastescompletely different when you
grow it in your own garden.
Trevor (08:07):
Our hard neck has these six big bulbs that, you know,
garlic bits that we get, andit's super fragrant. It's
actually pretty easy to peel toI think it's much easier to
peel. Hard neck is much easierto peel than soft,
Ellen (08:19):
I would say, yeah. And when you get it right out of the
ground, you know, it has alittle casing around the bulb
that's very easy to take off.
We'll talk a little bit aboutthat whole growing and ripening
schedule. But you know, whenit's ready, your basil's popping
in the garden at the same time.
So it is just a natural Oh, itsmells fantastic. Scoop up some
of that basil, get that garlicand make yourself some pesto,
(08:41):
and it is incredibly flavorfulwith the fresh garlic and the
fresh basil.
Trevor (08:46):
You know, for us we grow, we're growing the German
hard neck variety,
Ellen (08:51):
yes. Well, you know, as we should, because, you know, it
aligns to my answer, my ancestryand our collective temperament.
That's true.
Trevor (09:00):
I think you always think, Oh, I'm gonna go get some
garlic, but there's so many,like, is it 38 different kinds?
There's so many different kindsof garlic. There's Transylvanian
garlic, which seems totally
Ellen (09:12):
I was gonna I was gonna say, Do you know, is there a
question about which kind ofgarlic works for vampire
repelling?
Trevor (09:18):
That would obviously be Transylvanian, also known as
Romanian red. Well, that makessense, but there's music garlic
from Italy, which isappropriate. Italy is Tasmanian
purple, but you know, thebeautiful violet color,
Vietnamese red. There's lots ofit. There's lots of it, lots of
(09:38):
different kinds,
Ellen (09:39):
yeah. And for here, you know, obviously we were
researching what grows the bestin our soil and in our climate,
and that was the hard neckGerman. And obviously I felt a
lot of affinity with that, whichwas very fun. But, you know, you
plant in the fall and youharvest in the spring, the
scapes, we're gonna talk alittle bit about scapes, and
then your bulbs are ready inearly summer. Yeah.
Trevor (09:59):
Some people don't know, is that you actually get two
harvests out of a garlic
Ellen (10:04):
I didn't know it the first year that we grew them, I
was completely caught off guard.
And also, again, really excitedto learn about a garlic scape.
Trevor (10:16):
Yeah, I was like, I don't know what the hell a scape
is. What is that? I had no idea,you know, we had a neighbor that
said, Oh, it looks like it'stime to harvest your scapes. I
was like, what? Thank you. Yeah,it was, it was that me. It was
an early it was an early bit,
Ellen (10:32):
yeah. And sure enough, I went out to the patch, and all
of these curlicues were comingout. And again, experienced
gardeners, you know exactly whatthis looks like. But if you
don't, it is a bright green stemthat's coming out of the top of
the garlic leaves. And it curlsover when it's really ready, and
it has a little point on the endwhere the flower is going to
(10:53):
grow, if it continues to grow,and you nip that, and then you
make delicious things,
Trevor (10:59):
yeah. I mean, essentially the scape is the
flower stalk that's right ofhard neck garlic, and it stores
all the energy for next year.
The trick is, the reason why youcut it is because if you don't
trim it down, then all of thebulbs, which is what we eat a
lot of. They're very small. Theydo not get big,
Ellen (11:21):
right? And it is a little bit of, it's fun. It's a
little bit of a search missionto find the scapes, because
you've got all these beautifulleaves that are growing and
stems. And sometimes you missone. And when you do, and you
when you're going to pull it,and you see it's flower, you
really can notice thedifference, yeah, in the size of
the bulb. For those that youknow, fortunately, I think we
only had two this year that wemissed.
Trevor (11:42):
We were very upset about those two, because then you're
like, oh man. And sure enough,when we went to actually pull
the garlic out of the ground,those two smaller were much,
much smaller. I mean, that's bypruning the scapes and by using
them and then ultimately eatingthem, you are making better
garlic. You're just reallymaking sure that all of those,
(12:02):
all of the energy from theplant, all that photosynthesis,
all of the energy goes down intomaking the bulbs bigger and
bigger and bigger.
Ellen (12:10):
Yeah. And for us, it's, you know, it hasn't been an
exact science of when to clipthat scape, but you know, about
six to 12 inches is a rule. We Ihave air quotes going for those.
Trevor (12:20):
It is a podcast, they will not be able to see that.
Ellen (12:22):
Sorry, I used air quotes six to 12 inches, you know, so
that you have a meaningfulgarlic scape harvest that you
can use in recipes. You justdon't want to let that flower
open,
Trevor (12:32):
yeah, at that point, really, the garlic bulbs down on
the base are not just they'rejust not going to be as
flavorful.
Ellen (12:38):
You can use the entire scape for cooking, we have found
that the flour bowl part's notquite our favorite. Love to hear
recipes or ideas from otherpeople, to change our minds.
Please send them in. Change mymind. But you know, there's a
lot you can do with thatdelicious, tender green part of
the scape, and it's the flavors.
It's a little bit like an onion,like a scallion and garlic, a
(12:59):
marriage. It's a merger. It's amerger. It's a flavor.
Trevor (13:06):
Flavor explosion is one of those things that when we
first came here to stone Brookand we started putting stuff in
the yard, it was one of thosevery surprising moments for me.
There's been a couple of thosewith different things that we'll
talk about that, you know, likenasturtium flowers or ground
cherries, just flavors that Ihad never experienced. And
(13:28):
violets, yeah, Violets justthat, that we are big foodies,
and we've, we've always, youknow, strive to find the most
unique flavors out there and goto restaurants that are really
pioneering new ways to to usefood. But, man, anything right
out of your yard, it's so good.
And then you've got thesescapes, and it's just such a
(13:49):
unique, different flavor.
Ellen (13:52):
Well, yeah. And then, you know, we reached out to our
friends in the community, andthey're like, Oh yeah, scapes,
they knew all about it. Yeah.
They had all the answers for us.
It was, you know, oh yeah. Slicethem thin and saute them like a
green onion, or wrap the entirescape, because it naturally
starts to form a circle, like,wrap it up, dip it in some
batter, and fry it like an onionring.
Trevor (14:12):
Scape, onion rings amazing. It's pretty cool.
Amazing. It's pretty
Ellen (14:16):
good, you know? And then the one that became sort of my
favorite, I think you love too,is making escape pesto. Escape
pesto, early. Escape pesto. Ohmy gosh, yeah, it's pretty
excellent, incredible. I mean,we've never found pasta that was
like, we won't eat this pasta.
There isn't a pasta. I don'tlike chickpea pasta even I'll
get it down.
Trevor (14:37):
Yeah, that's probably the far end. Yeah. One neighbor
told us to use it kind of withbasil, yes, and then pine nuts
and all the traditional oliveoil and Parmigiano Reggiano.
There's another accent equallyas good as the last one.
Ellen (14:52):
Yeah, no, they said, you know, make it like you do a
pesto. So while the garlicscapes are lighter in flavor
than the actual garlic bulbsthemselves, they. Definitely
are, as our daughter used to saywhen she was little, sizey
Trevor (15:04):
Instead of spicy. Yes, she was always say sizey, sizey.
Ellen (15:08):
And they do pack a punch, and they can be
overpowering. So originally Itried very strong. Sometimes
they're very strong. Sooriginally I tried blanching
them, but then we kind ofsettled on the fact that we like
the spiciness of it so and wecame up with our own garlic
scape pesto recipe, and supereasy. So about a cup of the
(15:28):
blanched scapes, if you chooseto do that way, or unblanched
scapes, are going to go into thefood processor. You're going to
pulse for about 30 seconds, thenadd in half cup of either raw
pine nuts or walnuts. We've donethem with both.
Trevor (15:43):
That last version I made with cashews, that was really
good. That was excellent. So Irecommend cashews,
Ellen (15:48):
yeah. So do a quarter cup of cashews, and you're gonna
do about an extra 30 seconds, ofcourse, scrape down the bowl to
capture all the good stuffthat's sticking to the sides.
And then you're gonna follow byputting in a half cup of extra
virgin olive oil
Trevor (16:01):
and get the good stuff.
I mean, I think that stuff, it'sso funny, because a lot of
people think I'll just getwhatever. All the olive oils are
the same. It's they reallyaren't. No, you really do have
to find a quality good,preferably Italian olive oil.
There's a lot of blends outthere. I my preference. I think
your preference is to reallyjust try to go for a true
Italian, full 100% Italian extravirgin.
Ellen (16:25):
So put a half of a cup of that really good extra virgin
olive oil in, and you're gonnaprocess everything together for
about another 15 seconds. Youwill learn with me. I'm very
much by feel cook.
Trevor (16:38):
She is. It's true. I'm one that will follow a recipe. I
have all the measuring cups out,which is kind of, you know, sort
of funny, every dish in thekitchen and every dish that's
where I was going with this,yeah, my kitchen, essentially,
when I'm finished, looks like anentire restaurant of people have
been served. That is very true.
And I'm making one plate offood,
Ellen (17:02):
yes, it's true. And
Trevor (17:04):
Ellen is much more by feel.
Ellen (17:06):
Yeah, so much more by feel. And I clean up as I you do
100% you clean as you relate tothis.
Trevor (17:11):
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this. Somebody is
the cook and somebody is thedish cleaner, upper person,
yeah, and those two people getmarried.
Ellen (17:23):
Okay. To get back to the recipe. To finish this delicious
pesto, you're going to add aquarter cup of the Parmigiano
Reggiano.
Trevor (17:30):
Parmigiano Reggiano,
Ellen (17:31):
yeah, he always does this.
You're gonna pulse now again ifyou want more than a quarter
cup, I'm not judging. I thinkyou add totally should. I'm
always about the extra cheese islife. Go for it. Make it happen.
Pasta, bread, carbs. You sensethe theme life until the
ingredients are combined, andthen you're going to complete
with putting in another quartercup of the basil leaves and the
(17:52):
juice of a lemon. Lemonsoptional. I like the lemon. I
think it really helps to addsome flavor to it's delicious
and salt. Add a little pepper totaste and serve. Just put a nice
coating of olive oil on top andstore it in the fridge. It can
last for
Trevor (18:07):
that's if it actually makes it to the fridge. Very
good point, because not onlyhave we found that we love it on
pasta and large amounts of that,we will actually just go
straight into it with a cracker.
Ellen (18:21):
Oh, it is so good as like a dead person.
Trevor (18:24):
We have made these Rosemary crackers from the
rosemary that we grow. Andthey're very simple to make,
very easy, but you just scoopthem up and you put them in your
mouth.
Ellen (18:34):
It's, it's like just this herbaceous bite, you know,
with, obviously, you know, withthe basil and the scapes, and
then the rosemary, and then, youknow, just put a little extra
that cheese on top, again, justa little sprinkle. You know,
Trevor (18:47):
you're building a lot of layers of flavor, yeah, on
something that is prettystandard and traditional, that
everybody knows, but you'reputting this big twist on it.
And I think it's a lot of whatwe're gonna talk about on yarn
to table is finding simpledishes that you can elevate and
impress your friends and familyall with the stuff that you're
(19:07):
growing Absolutely it's more funthan that really
Ellen (19:11):
well. And you know, it's speaking of friends and family.
It's always sad because yourparents, my in laws, they're
usually traveling. They teach asummer program in Italy. It's
where we get the deliciouscheese. Sometimes they bring
that back for us.
Trevor (19:23):
The're cheese smugglers, they will, don't say anything,
they will bring it back in theirsuitcase,
Ellen (19:28):
which we are very grateful for. But they teach a
summer program in Italy everyyear, and they miss garlic scape
harvesting season every year.
And so we cut them up, and wegot an easy way to save that so
that you have it for our friendsthat maybe missed that time. Or
you can enjoy it later in theseason. Is, you know, you
process the scapes and the oliveoil together and you freeze
(19:50):
them. You can use an ice cubetray and just put it in little,
you know, little sections in theice cube tray, or put it in a
bag or a glass container, and.
Your freezer, and you got it allyear.
Trevor (20:02):
And the great thing about scapes is that they're
there's not one thing to do. No,there's so many different you
can use it like you use garlicor an onion 100% you can put it
on salad. You can make jelly outof it for a very peppery kind of
savory jelly. For cheeses,there's 1000 different things
that you can do with garlic,
Ellen (20:22):
and we were just looking at garlic scape salt,
Trevor (20:25):
yeah, taking, essentially your garlic scapes,
grinding them in the foodprocessor, putting them into the
oven with a lot of salt.
Essentially, it's a two to oneratio of garlic scape to salt.
Don't use table salt. No notable salt, because they that
has iodine in it. And really gofor a good kosher salt.
Ellen (20:46):
Always get the good stuff.
Trevor (20:47):
Yeah, I think that's gonna be a theme. That is a
theme. Always get the goodstuff, and then put it in the
oven. If you have at a super lowlevel, if you have a dehydrator
function on your oven, you canuse that one, or you just put it
down to the lowest level, andthen you just let it cook until
the salt and the scapes arecrunchy and sort of create like
(21:08):
a almost like a cake. Take thatbreak it back up again, put it
back into the food processor,grind it down. And if you store
it in an airtight container, itcan last for a year, two years,
and it is the spicy, uniqueflavor of the garlic scape, plus
salt you can use in pretty mucheverything.
Ellen (21:27):
All right, so garlic scapes, amazing
Trevor (21:30):
scapes are so all of this time we've just, we haven't
even been talking about garlic,I know bulbs. We've been talking
about the top part, just thescape.
Ellen (21:39):
And then you wait a few more weeks, maybe a month. I
mean, seasons are verytemperamental
Trevor (21:48):
science fiction. It is in science fiction. So whenever
it's right to harvest the garlicfor you, yes, in your zone.
Ellen (21:55):
And usually you're looking to see that the all the
leaves on the bottom are yellow,and that you're at that place
and, you know, pull out a bulbtest it. See for us, it's been
pretty much the first week ofJuly. You know, in seven A has
been our week to harvest. But,you know, it's all depends micro
climates and things like that.
You know, nothing beats good oldgetting your fingers in there
(22:18):
and checking out yourself andfiguring it out so, you know?
And then I actually think, like,garlic bulb harvesting is so
much fun. It is so satisfying.
Trevor (22:30):
It's almost like popping bubble wrap, yeah, you know, you
have this, like, same, yes.
Ellen gets very, very excited Ido for pulling garlic,
Ellen (22:43):
I do I it's just it has a beginning and a middle and an
end, and it is like, so you knowwhat it is, it feels, you feel
so good. First of all, like youdo with anything that you grow
to take something out of thegarden that you have created, is
it is just such a feeling ofaccomplishment and and then, you
(23:04):
know, to, you know, harvest thegarlic and see that it was
successful, and it looksgorgeous and smells so good.
It's just a it's endorphincentral for me. Oh yeah, yeah,
I'm on the happy train.
Trevor (23:19):
And once you've got it out, yeah, you know, it's still
not the end.
Ellen (23:23):
No. I mean, you know, you can use it right away. So
obviously, we were talking alittle bit about fresh garlic
and basil, and we did thatimmediately this year, just like
we always do, you know, you getit out, you make something
quickly, and you keep some freshgarlic, but then for it to last,
you know, you want to cure it.
So for us, we have, you know, welay everything out but the hard
knock garlic. Your stems arevery hard, so you can't do the
(23:44):
braiding, but you can tie themin bunches and you can hang
them. I try to make sure thatthe bulbs aren't touching each
other. I kind of stagger them alittle bit when I hang them. And
you know, for us, we're reallyvery low maintenance old school
here. We have so many oldscreens and old screen doors
from around our property,because our house is almost 100
years old, and that we just putscreens up in a covered in our
(24:05):
covered porch area, and we laythem out. I turn them once a
week, and you cure them forabout three weeks, and then
you're ready to cut and store
Trevor (24:17):
Yeah, and I think the important part for us is that we
them.
do have the ability to storethem, not in the sun,
Ellen (24:19):
yes, and not in the rain. You have to keep them away
from direct sun. That's reallyimportant, direct sun and
moisture,
Trevor (24:30):
because that's where your rots gonna set in, right?
So these are in the shade, thislittle breezeway that we have
next to the garden. Luckily, youknow, it always gets a little
bit of a breeze, even on a veryhot day. So they're curing,
they're slowly drying out. Andthat's really what you want,
because you want that protectivecoating around in those first
(24:51):
couple of skins of the garlic.
We did have a couple of garlicmurders, unfortunately, when. We
were harvesting, more of thosecame from me than they did from
you. I want that noted for therecord. It is already known as
official. It's in the record, mypermanent record. Yes, your
spade made connections. My spademade a connection,
(25:12):
unfortunately. And my pullingwas a little too vigorous, and
the top stalk just came rightoff.
Ellen (25:21):
And I, you know, I may have ribbed you a little bit for
that, but that's important toknow. Have Oh, I definitely did.
Oh, yeah, but it's important toknow because when you were
harvesting, you know, the bestmethod that I found, that we
have found, is that you get thespade and loosen the dirt up
around the bulb, and then it youcan pull from the top that, you
mean, the stalks are verysturdy. But, you know, depending
(25:42):
on your soil and the texture ofyour soil, you know, we get, you
know, we have done a wholeproject on up, doing our beds
and adding in new soil, but ourprevious soil was very
Trevor (25:53):
Clay, Clay and a lot of clay, yeah, so it would retain a
lot of moisture. So when you
Ellen (25:57):
it was like getting them out of cement. So, I mean,
compared to the year before, Ithink we lost a lot less.
Trevor (26:04):
Oh, we only lost, I think six. And the great news
is, you know, you use that greengarlic, as it's called, The
uncured garlic, and you use thatimmediately in whatever,
whatever dish you feel like,Darn, oh no, we have to hurry up
and use this garlic. Oh, shocks,yeah. It's not a it's not a
hardship. None of this is hard.
Ellen (26:22):
None of it's a hardship.
But, you know, the curing you ifyou do it correctly, and it
takes you really have garlic formost of the year, yeah, which is
pretty awesome. And so once it'sdry, you go through and you cut
off all the tops. I brush offthat first layer of skin.
Trevor (26:39):
And really it is a brushing. It's not a scrubbing.
You just want to get the anycakes of dirt that are left on
you, just like you're going todo the deep clean. Yeah, you
know, bulbs are going to comeout, you're going to open them
up and de skin them entirely.
And that makes it much better.
Ellen (26:55):
That's right. But we also went very easy for our
garlic storage is you have tomake sure that you're put them
in containers that get good airflow and that are going to be
obviously stored in a cool anddry place. That's, as we all
know, for those of us who canor, you know, store root
vegetables, onions, garlic,potatoes, things like those. You
(27:15):
know, you have to make sureyou're in a place that has good
air flow and is cool.
Trevor (27:19):
And we did a pretty simple thing, I think that
almost everybody can do totallyanybody with a drill can do it,
essentially, yes, I went to thelocal hardware store and I got a
tile cutting bit for the drill.
Pretty simple. Just put a littlewater first.
Ellen (27:39):
I did a little research and said, Honey, can you do
this?
Trevor (27:43):
The honey do list, the yard, the yard to do list.
Ellen (27:47):
And amazingly, you can.
That's what's so
Trevor (27:49):
great. And I did, and we had a great time doing it. Just
took a regular flower pot andthe flower pot plate that goes
underneath it,
Ellen (27:56):
yeah. And I terracotta, simple terracotta, and brand
new. You don't want to reuse aflower pot that you may have had
dirt in, or anything like that.
You want to get a brand new baseand pot
Trevor (28:09):
right, and then just drill a bunch of holes all
through the pot, because and thelid, and the lid I was getting
there and the lid on top.
Ellen (28:22):
Sorry, keep going.
Trevor (28:27):
So you drill all these holes, and then you use the
plate invert it as a lid. It'llsit right in the top of the
flower pot. So then you have afully aerated pot. You can buy
these pots. They're, you know,all over the internet, you can
get ceramicists to make them anddo them, and they work. It's
fine. But you can also do thisand get a super cheap flower pot
(28:48):
and just drill holes in it witha tile cutter,
Ellen (28:52):
and super easy. And, you know, the nice part about it
too, is you can use it for somany different things. You can
use it for shallot storage,onions, and, you know, as far as
labeling, I just get a whitepiece of chalk, and I write the
date and the name of the itemthat's in it, and that way we
know what what it is, which issuper simple and easy.
Trevor (29:11):
I mean, our garlic almost lasted the entire through
the winter. Almost
Ellen (29:15):
it did. I mean, we were into, I mean, honestly, it was
early spring.
Trevor (29:19):
Yeah, we were almost in, back into scape season by the
time we had finished with ourgarlic. And in addition to doing
all of the normal preservationfor the actual garlic itself,
there's always a great time.
Just cut that top of the garlicoff, put it on a pan. Put a
bunch of them on the pan, throwthis, I know you do, olive oil,
salt, just toss them in, roastthem up. They become very
(29:41):
pliable, almost almost like ajam, like consistency at that
point in time. Squeeze them out,squeeze all those beautiful
garlic pieces out. Get somereusable bags that are like
snack bags, that kind of athing, and then flatten them
out. Just put that paste rightin there, flat. An amount, throw
them in your freezer, then youcan just snap off little pieces
(30:01):
as you need it for whatevercooking you're doing.
Ellen (30:07):
You forgot the most important
Trevor (30:08):
part, something about Eating more garlic,
Ellen (30:12):
exactly. So you take some of that delicious roasted
garlic, and you put it on adelicious slice of bread, and
then you eat it
Trevor (30:20):
before you freeze it.
That's correct. Understood, yes,there is no way. I thought that
was, sort of assumed that wewere doing that
Ellen (30:27):
well for us naturally.
Because there is no way you'renot gonna eat that delicious
press roasted garlic before youput it away. That's true, but it
is another great way to storeit,
Trevor (30:40):
and there's lots of you know, you can even take the UN
roasted garlic and do that samething. You can put that in the
food processor, and you can finda way, whatever works for you,
to store it in the freezer andhave the that fresh garlic
available as well.
Ellen (30:54):
And I think the other cool part about growing your own
garlic is it's self sustaining,so before you eat it, process
it, roast it. You're gonna pickout your top, most beautiful,
largest garlic bulbs that you'vegrown, and you're gonna reuse
those to plant for next year. Wejust saved them. Yeah. And then
come fall, you plant them. Youjust break them apart, you put
(31:16):
the put the cloves in, one at atime. And, I mean, we got out of
that. What was the math? So itwas 30 bulbs, and we got how
many plants? About 180 garlicplants from those 30
Trevor (31:26):
, yes. And they were all bigger this year than they were
last year, right? And this ispart of the fun of of you know,
working in your yard, you'resort of controlling this
agriculture that you'rebuilding. That's right. So every
year, your garlic is going toget a little bit bigger and a
little bit bigger and a littlebit bigger, because you're
essentially doing selectiveevolution of your own garlic.
Ellen (31:47):
That's right, yes, just like I'm doing with the zinnias.
Yeah, that's another podcast.
Trevor (31:51):
That's a different episode, but that's part of it,
is that when you pull these,these larger bulbs, and we're
pulling the biggest, biggestones we can find is just making
that next year's harvest thatmuch bigger from each individual
bulb.
Ellen (32:06):
That's right, it is a wonderful feeling to know that
you have created this cycle ofgrowth. And when we have people
come over and sit at the tableand we're serving our garlic
spread and the pesto and makingall the dishes that we make with
garlic, because it is one of ourit's a good absolute go to
Trevor (32:26):
like most people on the planet Earth, it's just last
7000 years. Apparently
Ellen (32:30):
it's so good. It's satisfying. It's so satisfying
to know that this is somethingthat you've put so much heart
and energy into, and you'resharing it with people. I love
that feeling.
Trevor (32:42):
I think also, it's not that hard. It's not like
something you need to do endlessmaintenance on. That's the fun
part. You know, you're selectingthese 30 bulbs to put in and
back into the ground again.
Ellen (32:54):
If you're thinking about what I've never grown anything
before, and you think, whatgarlic is easy. It is so easy,
it really doesn't require a tonof maintenance.
Trevor (33:05):
No, you have to water it. You have to watch out for
certain signs of rot. You canget nematodes and other things
that, you know, pests that canpossibly attack it. But that's
partially why we grow the Germanhard neck is because it is very
hardy. It's very cold resistant.
Not all of the differentvarieties of garlic are as cold
resistant our our zone didchange from seven to seven a so
(33:28):
we're a little bit warmer thanwe once were here in
Connecticut, in WesternConnecticut. But that's, I think
one of the great parts aboutgarlic is you really do have a
pretty wide range of mess upbefore you kill it off.
Ellen (33:45):
So just some basics.
With planting garlic, you wantto plant them in the late fall
or early winter. That soundseasy, six weeks before the
ground freezes. Good luckfiguring that out. So none of
this is an exact science. I lovewhen people say that. You know,
in milder areas you can plant inJanuary and February. That's not
us in New England. But you know,you want to make sure the soil
has plenty of compost, andthat's your basis for
(34:08):
fertilizing your garlic, becauseit really is very easy to grow.
That gives you good waterretention and good drainage. If
you're using good soil and goodcompost, you know it is
important, if you're going to beplanting in fall and you're
looking to harvest in earlysummer, that you have another
fertilization moment, which isin like May, so early spring.
(34:31):
It's a fertilizer that's high innitrogen, because they love
that, but it's important not touse that after that early spring
moment, because that's whenthey're really doing their
growing, and anything else thatyou put in there can interrupt
with the growing. So really,it's really only one note. Then
you get some delicious scapes,then you harvest your bulbs, and
(34:55):
then you do it again. What'sbetter than that? I think it's
amazing.
Trevor (35:00):
Okay, think about this, tomatoes from your yard, garlic
from your yard, Basil from youryard, and a very good bread,
which, if you're growing wheat,could also come from your yard.
We are not currently growingwheat in our yard. No, not
currently. But never, say,Never, just those things
together, the simple, simple,simple ingredients elevated and
(35:26):
from your own backyard, what'sbetter nothing.
Ellen (35:29):
Nothing is better than that. That's true. If you want
to try any of the recipes thatwe talked about today, or look
at our recommendations forgrowing garlic, then take a look
at our podcast show notes,
Trevor (35:39):
and if you want to find out what's going on today right
in our backyard at Stone Brookfollow us on Instagram
@stonebrookhouse. Well, it'sbeen a lot of fun talking about
garlic. Garlic is a great topic.
I'm sure there's a lot more wecould say about garlic. I heard
that you could repair glass withgarlic. I have no idea where I
heard that. Did you bring thatup earlier? That would have been
(36:01):
a much better thing to bring upearlier.
Ellen (36:04):
All right, we're saving that for a future episode as
well, but thanks for being withus and having a seat at our
table.
Trevor (36:10):
Yard to Table is a production of Macrocosm
Entertainment. Don't forget torate us and subscribe anywhere
you listen to podcasts and fortips and more information,
follow us on Instagram@stonebrookhouse.
Oh. Well, hello, Ellen.
Ellen (00:15):
Well, hello, Trevor.
Trevor (00:16):
We're doing something a little bit different today.
Ellen (00:19):
We are. I was in the garden.
Trevor (00:22):
Yes, as we often find in the garden, correct? Thats not
new news,
Ellen (00:26):
and it's a really fun time because the garlic scapes
are popping.
Trevor (00:32):
Ah, tis scape season it is.
Ellen (00:35):
And as I was making, literally, an armful of scape
bracelets, yes, I wascollecting.
Trevor (00:42):
I saw that
Ellen (00:43):
I did not have a basket with me. I just
Trevor (00:45):
Were not always together. And so sometimes I see
the things that you do, but thatI post on the on our own
Instagram @stonebrookhouse. So Ilooked on, I got an alert, and
it said, look at your phoneagain. And I said, Okay, I'll
just do it this one time,because I don't usually go on my
phone at all, and there you werewith a Madonna-esque scenario of
(01:10):
scapes,
Ellen (01:12):
yes, well, as soon as I saw them, I had to start
collecting them. So of course, Ididn't have a basket, and I
thought, well, it was like animmediate scape collection. I'm
gonna, I'm gonna rock thisgarlic scape bracelet, because I
could have easily walked back tothe, no own it to the potting
bench and gotten the basket, butown the bracelet anyway. I loved
it. It was fun. It is fun. But,you know, I realized we released
(01:34):
an episode on garlic. Yes, wedid in our first season. We did
that was in the fall, so sort ofwas late, way later, which
helps, which help for futureplanning.
Trevor (01:43):
That's true. But also, we had a lot to say
Ellen (01:46):
we did.
Trevor (01:46):
It was a lot happening in the beginning,
Ellen (01:48):
so I think it would be a good idea to share it with
everybody again, now,
Trevor (01:51):
sort of in situ, as it were, since this is the time,
Ellen (01:55):
it is the season.
Trevor (01:56):
And I think this way, if you listen to our episode from
season one, you can get all ofthe tips, and hopefully you
planted your garlic. And soyou're at the point where you
have those scapes right now. Ithink we had a recipe, and lots
of recipes, we'd say, scapesalt, we'd all sorts of stuff
that we want you guys to all beable to listen to right now,
since it's in the season, andthen you can enjoy and get ready
(02:21):
for all the loveliness that isstill only a very short period
of time away when it comes toactual garlic harvesting.
Ellen (02:28):
Yes, that'll be in July.
But, and here's the thing too,you'll be ready for that. You'll
be ready and if you aren'tgrowing garlic, no worries. All
of your local farmers marketsare soon going to be full,
inundated with scapes that youcan buy and try and make some
recipes too. So we think it's areal it's a good idea,
Trevor (02:47):
yeah, and we'll be back next week with another episode,
a brand new episode of Yard toTable. But for now, yeah, I felt
like this was a good time
Ellen (02:55):
So for now, enjoy growing the Stinking Rose garlic
from season one of Yard toTable.
Trevor (03:01):
Well, hi there, Ellen.
Ellen (03:03):
Well, hello there, Trevor.
Trevor (03:05):
Here we are. Another fantastic episode of yard to
table. Exciting. It's superexciting. I say that a lot,
don't I? You do say exciting alot, but things are exciting. I
mean, that's, think that's oneof the cool things we it's
something new in the garden, inthe yard every single day.
Ellen (03:22):
Yes, and being able to do this and talk about it, and
obviously share our enthusiasmabout it. There's a lot of it.
There's a lot of it, is reallyincredibly cool.
Trevor (03:32):
Not all. It's not always good out there. It's always it's
always exciting.
Ellen (03:36):
But you know what? It's good on here, on this podcast?
Trevor (03:40):
That's true. It is always good. It is always good.
Welcome to yard, to table, thepodcast, where we talk about
food, we talk aboutentertaining, we talk about
recipes, we talk about growingeverything in our yard, which is
all centered around our 11 acreConnecticut homestead called
stone Brook. That's right. Andmy name is Ellen Sher crafts,
(04:01):
and I am Trevor Crafts, andwelcome everybody here. We are
talking today. What are wetalking about? Trevor, the
Stinking Rose. Wait, let meguess that's garlic. Wrong. No,
you're right. It is it isgarlic. It is garlic. I didn't
even know where I you know, I'veheard that there's a restaurant
called the Stinking Rose. I'vealways known that it was called
(04:23):
the Stinking Rose.
Ellen (04:24):
Is that a Shakespearean term?
Trevor (04:26):
You know, I thought it was too. I 100% thought it was
too, but it's not telling me hewas, it was. It was actually a
French, French, very Frenchwriter and physician named Henri
Leclerc,
Ellen (04:43):
very nice. Yeah. Thank you. So to our listeners. Trevor
has an incredible ability toaccents. You can leave in the
comments whether you want tohear more,
Trevor (04:52):
which I'm sure everybody will automatically. I'm sure
listeners, you do like accents.
We all know that. So. HenriLeclerc, he translated the Greek
for the name. This is the accentpart. This is the French accent
Ellen (05:08):
Yeah, can we just skip that part?
Trevor (05:09):
Okay, fine. So he translated it and came up with
the Stinking Rose. So
Ellen (05:16):
that's fascinating. And was it because it looked like a
rose, because it doesn't?
Trevor (05:20):
So it's all from the Greek skoradon, yes, and that
translates down through Frenchinto the English, Stinking Rose.
Amazing. Language isfascinating. So my accent game
is strong. I think we can allagree on that what's not so
encouragement necessary, what'snot so strong is my
understanding about agentcivilization. So I did have to
(05:42):
look this up, because we weretalking about garlic today, but
I wanted to know how long, youknow, we've been eating garlic,
not you and I, but just us ashumans. It has to be 7000 years.
It's a long time.
Ellen (05:56):
That's a long time. And I think this always goes back to
a conversation you and I have alot. What drove the first person
to try garlic?
Trevor (06:06):
It's amazing because it's, it's, I mean, in its raw
form,
Ellen (06:09):
desperation. I think that's it. Watching animals not
die.
Trevor (06:15):
Watching not death is always a plus. It's always a
plus. Okay, that's safe. I'lltry that. Yeah, where all of our
food comes from, and how longwe've been eating these things
that we grow in our yard.
Amazing. Is actually fascinatingto know how much time and energy
has been spent cultivating allof these different fruits and
vegetables and things that wegrow. It's not just, you know,
(06:36):
it's not just a week
Ellen (06:39):
well, right? And then how many different varieties
there are? I mean, there are,there is a lot
Trevor (06:44):
of just garlic, just garlic. Oh yeah, just garlic.
It's 38 and it's basically, youhave really been doing your
research. I'm this is, this iswhat we do. I know this is our
thing. Very impressed. Keepgoing two different kinds.
Generally, there's two differentkinds for everybody out. If you
know this already, moreexperienced gardeners are going
to know this. But if you're juststarting with your your yard,
(07:04):
and what you can put into youryard, essentially, you've got
two different types. There'ssoft neck. That means that they
don't produce a stalk. There'sthere's no garlic flour there.
And that's the stuff thatusually you're going to see in
like, you know, grocery stores,and that's the all the varieties
Ellen (07:21):
breeding, of the of the styles, the one that you breed.
Trevor (07:25):
Yes, I know this because we grow hard neck. Garlic,
that's right, yeah, we grow hardneck. I mean, soft necks got all
sorts of different. Black garlicis a soft French. Red is a soft
garlic, soft neck garlic,elephant garlic actually isn't
garlic. Stop. What is it? It isactually a it's a onion. Oh,
(07:48):
wow. Now we grow hard neckgarlic. That's what we've been
putting in into the yard. Ithink there's a big taste
difference between hard neck andsoft.
Ellen (07:59):
And once you've had it, regardless of what variety you
are trying, it also tastescompletely different when you
grow it in your own garden.
Trevor (08:07):
Our hard neck has these six big bulbs that, you know,
garlic bits that we get, andit's super fragrant. It's
actually pretty easy to peel toI think it's much easier to
peel. Hard neck is much easierto peel than soft,
Ellen (08:19):
I would say, yeah. And when you get it right out of the
ground, you know, it has alittle casing around the bulb
that's very easy to take off.
We'll talk a little bit aboutthat whole growing and ripening
schedule. But you know, whenit's ready, your basil's popping
in the garden at the same time.
So it is just a natural Oh, itsmells fantastic. Scoop up some
of that basil, get that garlicand make yourself some pesto,
(08:41):
and it is incredibly flavorfulwith the fresh garlic and the
fresh basil.
Trevor (08:46):
You know, for us we grow, we're growing the German
hard neck variety,
Ellen (08:51):
yes. Well, you know, as we should, because, you know, it
aligns to my answer, my ancestryand our collective temperament.
That's true.
Trevor (09:00):
I think you always think, Oh, I'm gonna go get some
garlic, but there's so many,like, is it 38 different kinds?
There's so many different kindsof garlic. There's Transylvanian
garlic, which seems totally
Ellen (09:12):
I was gonna I was gonna say, Do you know, is there a
question about which kind ofgarlic works for vampire
repelling?
Trevor (09:18):
That would obviously be Transylvanian, also known as
Romanian red. Well, that makessense, but there's music garlic
from Italy, which isappropriate. Italy is Tasmanian
purple, but you know, thebeautiful violet color,
Vietnamese red. There's lots ofit. There's lots of it, lots of
(09:38):
different kinds,
Ellen (09:39):
yeah. And for here, you know, obviously we were
researching what grows the bestin our soil and in our climate,
and that was the hard neckGerman. And obviously I felt a
lot of affinity with that, whichwas very fun. But, you know, you
plant in the fall and youharvest in the spring, the
scapes, we're gonna talk alittle bit about scapes, and
then your bulbs are ready inearly summer. Yeah.
Trevor (09:59):
Some people don't know, is that you actually get two
harvests out of a garlic
Ellen (10:04):
I didn't know it the first year that we grew them, I
was completely caught off guard.
And also, again, really excitedto learn about a garlic scape.
Trevor (10:16):
Yeah, I was like, I don't know what the hell a scape
is. What is that? I had no idea,you know, we had a neighbor that
said, Oh, it looks like it'stime to harvest your scapes. I
was like, what? Thank you. Yeah,it was, it was that me. It was
an early it was an early bit,
Ellen (10:32):
yeah. And sure enough, I went out to the patch, and all
of these curlicues were comingout. And again, experienced
gardeners, you know exactly whatthis looks like. But if you
don't, it is a bright green stemthat's coming out of the top of
the garlic leaves. And it curlsover when it's really ready, and
it has a little point on the endwhere the flower is going to
(10:53):
grow, if it continues to grow,and you nip that, and then you
make delicious things,
Trevor (10:59):
yeah. I mean, essentially the scape is the
flower stalk that's right ofhard neck garlic, and it stores
all the energy for next year.
The trick is, the reason why youcut it is because if you don't
trim it down, then all of thebulbs, which is what we eat a
lot of. They're very small. Theydo not get big,
Ellen (11:21):
right? And it is a little bit of, it's fun. It's a
little bit of a search missionto find the scapes, because
you've got all these beautifulleaves that are growing and
stems. And sometimes you missone. And when you do, and you
when you're going to pull it,and you see it's flower, you
really can notice thedifference, yeah, in the size of
the bulb. For those that youknow, fortunately, I think we
only had two this year that wemissed.
Trevor (11:42):
We were very upset about those two, because then you're
like, oh man. And sure enough,when we went to actually pull
the garlic out of the ground,those two smaller were much,
much smaller. I mean, that's bypruning the scapes and by using
them and then ultimately eatingthem, you are making better
garlic. You're just reallymaking sure that all of those,
(12:02):
all of the energy from theplant, all that photosynthesis,
all of the energy goes down intomaking the bulbs bigger and
bigger and bigger.
Ellen (12:10):
Yeah. And for us, it's, you know, it hasn't been an
exact science of when to clipthat scape, but you know, about
six to 12 inches is a rule. We Ihave air quotes going for those.
Trevor (12:20):
It is a podcast, they will not be able to see that.
Ellen (12:22):
Sorry, I used air quotes six to 12 inches, you know, so
that you have a meaningfulgarlic scape harvest that you
can use in recipes. You justdon't want to let that flower
open,
Trevor (12:32):
yeah, at that point, really, the garlic bulbs down on
the base are not just they'rejust not going to be as
flavorful.
Ellen (12:38):
You can use the entire scape for cooking, we have found
that the flour bowl part's notquite our favorite. Love to hear
recipes or ideas from otherpeople, to change our minds.
Please send them in. Change mymind. But you know, there's a
lot you can do with thatdelicious, tender green part of
the scape, and it's the flavors.
It's a little bit like an onion,like a scallion and garlic, a
(12:59):
marriage. It's a merger. It's amerger. It's a flavor.
Trevor (13:06):
Flavor explosion is one of those things that when we
first came here to stone Brookand we started putting stuff in
the yard, it was one of thosevery surprising moments for me.
There's been a couple of thosewith different things that we'll
talk about that, you know, likenasturtium flowers or ground
cherries, just flavors that Ihad never experienced. And
(13:28):
violets, yeah, Violets justthat, that we are big foodies,
and we've, we've always, youknow, strive to find the most
unique flavors out there and goto restaurants that are really
pioneering new ways to to usefood. But, man, anything right
out of your yard, it's so good.
And then you've got thesescapes, and it's just such a
(13:49):
unique, different flavor.
Ellen (13:52):
Well, yeah. And then, you know, we reached out to our
friends in the community, andthey're like, Oh yeah, scapes,
they knew all about it. Yeah.
They had all the answers for us.
It was, you know, oh yeah. Slicethem thin and saute them like a
green onion, or wrap the entirescape, because it naturally
starts to form a circle, like,wrap it up, dip it in some
batter, and fry it like an onionring.
Trevor (14:12):
Scape, onion rings amazing. It's pretty cool.
Amazing. It's pretty
Ellen (14:16):
good, you know? And then the one that became sort of my
favorite, I think you love too,is making escape pesto. Escape
pesto, early. Escape pesto. Ohmy gosh, yeah, it's pretty
excellent, incredible. I mean,we've never found pasta that was
like, we won't eat this pasta.
There isn't a pasta. I don'tlike chickpea pasta even I'll
get it down.
Trevor (14:37):
Yeah, that's probably the far end. Yeah. One neighbor
told us to use it kind of withbasil, yes, and then pine nuts
and all the traditional oliveoil and Parmigiano Reggiano.
There's another accent equallyas good as the last one.
Ellen (14:52):
Yeah, no, they said, you know, make it like you do a
pesto. So while the garlicscapes are lighter in flavor
than the actual garlic bulbsthemselves, they. Definitely
are, as our daughter used to saywhen she was little, sizey
Trevor (15:04):
Instead of spicy. Yes, she was always say sizey, sizey.
Ellen (15:08):
And they do pack a punch, and they can be
overpowering. So originally Itried very strong. Sometimes
they're very strong. Sooriginally I tried blanching
them, but then we kind ofsettled on the fact that we like
the spiciness of it so and wecame up with our own garlic
scape pesto recipe, and supereasy. So about a cup of the
(15:28):
blanched scapes, if you chooseto do that way, or unblanched
scapes, are going to go into thefood processor. You're going to
pulse for about 30 seconds, thenadd in half cup of either raw
pine nuts or walnuts. We've donethem with both.
Trevor (15:43):
That last version I made with cashews, that was really
good. That was excellent. So Irecommend cashews,
Ellen (15:48):
yeah. So do a quarter cup of cashews, and you're gonna
do about an extra 30 seconds, ofcourse, scrape down the bowl to
capture all the good stuffthat's sticking to the sides.
And then you're gonna follow byputting in a half cup of extra
virgin olive oil
Trevor (16:01):
and get the good stuff.
I mean, I think that stuff, it'sso funny, because a lot of
people think I'll just getwhatever. All the olive oils are
the same. It's they reallyaren't. No, you really do have
to find a quality good,preferably Italian olive oil.
There's a lot of blends outthere. I my preference. I think
your preference is to reallyjust try to go for a true
Italian, full 100% Italian extravirgin.
Ellen (16:25):
So put a half of a cup of that really good extra virgin
olive oil in, and you're gonnaprocess everything together for
about another 15 seconds. Youwill learn with me. I'm very
much by feel cook.
Trevor (16:38):
She is. It's true. I'm one that will follow a recipe. I
have all the measuring cups out,which is kind of, you know, sort
of funny, every dish in thekitchen and every dish that's
where I was going with this,yeah, my kitchen, essentially,
when I'm finished, looks like anentire restaurant of people have
been served. That is very true.
And I'm making one plate offood,
Ellen (17:02):
yes, it's true. And
Trevor (17:04):
Ellen is much more by feel.
Ellen (17:06):
Yeah, so much more by feel. And I clean up as I you do
100% you clean as you relate tothis.
Trevor (17:11):
I'm sure a lot of people can relate to this. Somebody is
the cook and somebody is thedish cleaner, upper person,
yeah, and those two people getmarried.
Ellen (17:23):
Okay. To get back to the recipe. To finish this delicious
pesto, you're going to add aquarter cup of the Parmigiano
Reggiano.
Trevor (17:30):
Parmigiano Reggiano,
Ellen (17:31):
yeah, he always does this.
You're gonna pulse now again ifyou want more than a quarter
cup, I'm not judging. I thinkyou add totally should. I'm
always about the extra cheese islife. Go for it. Make it happen.
Pasta, bread, carbs. You sensethe theme life until the
ingredients are combined, andthen you're going to complete
with putting in another quartercup of the basil leaves and the
(17:52):
juice of a lemon. Lemonsoptional. I like the lemon. I
think it really helps to addsome flavor to it's delicious
and salt. Add a little pepper totaste and serve. Just put a nice
coating of olive oil on top andstore it in the fridge. It can
last for
Trevor (18:07):
that's if it actually makes it to the fridge. Very
good point, because not onlyhave we found that we love it on
pasta and large amounts of that,we will actually just go
straight into it with a cracker.
Ellen (18:21):
Oh, it is so good as like a dead person.
Trevor (18:24):
We have made these Rosemary crackers from the
rosemary that we grow. Andthey're very simple to make,
very easy, but you just scoopthem up and you put them in your
mouth.
Ellen (18:34):
It's, it's like just this herbaceous bite, you know,
with, obviously, you know, withthe basil and the scapes, and
then the rosemary, and then, youknow, just put a little extra
that cheese on top, again, justa little sprinkle. You know,
Trevor (18:47):
you're building a lot of layers of flavor, yeah, on
something that is prettystandard and traditional, that
everybody knows, but you'reputting this big twist on it.
And I think it's a lot of whatwe're gonna talk about on yarn
to table is finding simpledishes that you can elevate and
impress your friends and familyall with the stuff that you're
(19:07):
growing Absolutely it's more funthan that really
Ellen (19:11):
well. And you know, it's speaking of friends and family.
It's always sad because yourparents, my in laws, they're
usually traveling. They teach asummer program in Italy. It's
where we get the deliciouscheese. Sometimes they bring
that back for us.
Trevor (19:23):
The're cheese smugglers, they will, don't say anything,
they will bring it back in theirsuitcase,
Ellen (19:28):
which we are very grateful for. But they teach a
summer program in Italy everyyear, and they miss garlic scape
harvesting season every year.
And so we cut them up, and wegot an easy way to save that so
that you have it for our friendsthat maybe missed that time. Or
you can enjoy it later in theseason. Is, you know, you
process the scapes and the oliveoil together and you freeze
(19:50):
them. You can use an ice cubetray and just put it in little,
you know, little sections in theice cube tray, or put it in a
bag or a glass container, and.
Your freezer, and you got it allyear.
Trevor (20:02):
And the great thing about scapes is that they're
there's not one thing to do. No,there's so many different you
can use it like you use garlicor an onion 100% you can put it
on salad. You can make jelly outof it for a very peppery kind of
savory jelly. For cheeses,there's 1000 different things
that you can do with garlic,
Ellen (20:22):
and we were just looking at garlic scape salt,
Trevor (20:25):
yeah, taking, essentially your garlic scapes,
grinding them in the foodprocessor, putting them into the
oven with a lot of salt.
Essentially, it's a two to oneratio of garlic scape to salt.
Don't use table salt. No notable salt, because they that
has iodine in it. And really gofor a good kosher salt.
Ellen (20:46):
Always get the good stuff.
Trevor (20:47):
Yeah, I think that's gonna be a theme. That is a
theme. Always get the goodstuff, and then put it in the
oven. If you have at a super lowlevel, if you have a dehydrator
function on your oven, you canuse that one, or you just put it
down to the lowest level, andthen you just let it cook until
the salt and the scapes arecrunchy and sort of create like
(21:08):
a almost like a cake. Take thatbreak it back up again, put it
back into the food processor,grind it down. And if you store
it in an airtight container, itcan last for a year, two years,
and it is the spicy, uniqueflavor of the garlic scape, plus
salt you can use in pretty mucheverything.
Ellen (21:27):
All right, so garlic scapes, amazing
Trevor (21:30):
scapes are so all of this time we've just, we haven't
even been talking about garlic,I know bulbs. We've been talking
about the top part, just thescape.
Ellen (21:39):
And then you wait a few more weeks, maybe a month. I
mean, seasons are verytemperamental
Trevor (21:48):
science fiction. It is in science fiction. So whenever
it's right to harvest the garlicfor you, yes, in your zone.
Ellen (21:55):
And usually you're looking to see that the all the
leaves on the bottom are yellow,and that you're at that place
and, you know, pull out a bulbtest it. See for us, it's been
pretty much the first week ofJuly. You know, in seven A has
been our week to harvest. But,you know, it's all depends micro
climates and things like that.
You know, nothing beats good oldgetting your fingers in there
(22:18):
and checking out yourself andfiguring it out so, you know?
And then I actually think, like,garlic bulb harvesting is so
much fun. It is so satisfying.
Trevor (22:30):
It's almost like popping bubble wrap, yeah, you know, you
have this, like, same, yes.
Ellen gets very, very excited Ido for pulling garlic,
Ellen (22:43):
I do I it's just it has a beginning and a middle and an
end, and it is like, so you knowwhat it is, it feels, you feel
so good. First of all, like youdo with anything that you grow
to take something out of thegarden that you have created, is
it is just such a feeling ofaccomplishment and and then, you
(23:04):
know, to, you know, harvest thegarlic and see that it was
successful, and it looksgorgeous and smells so good.
It's just a it's endorphincentral for me. Oh yeah, yeah,
I'm on the happy train.
Trevor (23:19):
And once you've got it out, yeah, you know, it's still
not the end.
Ellen (23:23):
No. I mean, you know, you can use it right away. So
obviously, we were talking alittle bit about fresh garlic
and basil, and we did thatimmediately this year, just like
we always do, you know, you getit out, you make something
quickly, and you keep some freshgarlic, but then for it to last,
you know, you want to cure it.
So for us, we have, you know, welay everything out but the hard
knock garlic. Your stems arevery hard, so you can't do the
(23:44):
braiding, but you can tie themin bunches and you can hang
them. I try to make sure thatthe bulbs aren't touching each
other. I kind of stagger them alittle bit when I hang them. And
you know, for us, we're reallyvery low maintenance old school
here. We have so many oldscreens and old screen doors
from around our property,because our house is almost 100
years old, and that we just putscreens up in a covered in our
(24:05):
covered porch area, and we laythem out. I turn them once a
week, and you cure them forabout three weeks, and then
you're ready to cut and store
Trevor (24:17):
Yeah, and I think the important part for us is that we
them.
do have the ability to storethem, not in the sun,
Ellen (24:19):
yes, and not in the rain. You have to keep them away
from direct sun. That's reallyimportant, direct sun and
moisture,
Trevor (24:30):
because that's where your rots gonna set in, right?
So these are in the shade, thislittle breezeway that we have
next to the garden. Luckily, youknow, it always gets a little
bit of a breeze, even on a veryhot day. So they're curing,
they're slowly drying out. Andthat's really what you want,
because you want that protectivecoating around in those first
(24:51):
couple of skins of the garlic.
We did have a couple of garlicmurders, unfortunately, when. We
were harvesting, more of thosecame from me than they did from
you. I want that noted for therecord. It is already known as
official. It's in the record, mypermanent record. Yes, your
spade made connections. My spademade a connection,
(25:12):
unfortunately. And my pullingwas a little too vigorous, and
the top stalk just came rightoff.
Ellen (25:21):
And I, you know, I may have ribbed you a little bit for
that, but that's important toknow. Have Oh, I definitely did.
Oh, yeah, but it's important toknow because when you were
harvesting, you know, the bestmethod that I found, that we
have found, is that you get thespade and loosen the dirt up
around the bulb, and then it youcan pull from the top that, you
mean, the stalks are verysturdy. But, you know, depending
(25:42):
on your soil and the texture ofyour soil, you know, we get, you
know, we have done a wholeproject on up, doing our beds
and adding in new soil, but ourprevious soil was very
Trevor (25:53):
Clay, Clay and a lot of clay, yeah, so it would retain a
lot of moisture. So when you
Ellen (25:57):
it was like getting them out of cement. So, I mean,
compared to the year before, Ithink we lost a lot less.
Trevor (26:04):
Oh, we only lost, I think six. And the great news
is, you know, you use that greengarlic, as it's called, The
uncured garlic, and you use thatimmediately in whatever,
whatever dish you feel like,Darn, oh no, we have to hurry up
and use this garlic. Oh, shocks,yeah. It's not a it's not a
hardship. None of this is hard.
Ellen (26:22):
None of it's a hardship.
But, you know, the curing you ifyou do it correctly, and it
takes you really have garlic formost of the year, yeah, which is
pretty awesome. And so once it'sdry, you go through and you cut
off all the tops. I brush offthat first layer of skin.
Trevor (26:39):
And really it is a brushing. It's not a scrubbing.
You just want to get the anycakes of dirt that are left on
you, just like you're going todo the deep clean. Yeah, you
know, bulbs are going to comeout, you're going to open them
up and de skin them entirely.
And that makes it much better.
Ellen (26:55):
That's right. But we also went very easy for our
garlic storage is you have tomake sure that you're put them
in containers that get good airflow and that are going to be
obviously stored in a cool anddry place. That's, as we all
know, for those of us who canor, you know, store root
vegetables, onions, garlic,potatoes, things like those. You
(27:15):
know, you have to make sureyou're in a place that has good
air flow and is cool.
Trevor (27:19):
And we did a pretty simple thing, I think that
almost everybody can do totallyanybody with a drill can do it,
essentially, yes, I went to thelocal hardware store and I got a
tile cutting bit for the drill.
Pretty simple. Just put a littlewater first.
Ellen (27:39):
I did a little research and said, Honey, can you do
this?
Trevor (27:43):
The honey do list, the yard, the yard to do list.
Ellen (27:47):
And amazingly, you can.
That's what's so
Trevor (27:49):
great. And I did, and we had a great time doing it. Just
took a regular flower pot andthe flower pot plate that goes
underneath it,
Ellen (27:56):
yeah. And I terracotta, simple terracotta, and brand
new. You don't want to reuse aflower pot that you may have had
dirt in, or anything like that.
You want to get a brand new baseand pot
Trevor (28:09):
right, and then just drill a bunch of holes all
through the pot, because and thelid, and the lid I was getting
there and the lid on top.
Ellen (28:22):
Sorry, keep going.
Trevor (28:27):
So you drill all these holes, and then you use the
plate invert it as a lid. It'llsit right in the top of the
flower pot. So then you have afully aerated pot. You can buy
these pots. They're, you know,all over the internet, you can
get ceramicists to make them anddo them, and they work. It's
fine. But you can also do thisand get a super cheap flower pot
(28:48):
and just drill holes in it witha tile cutter,
Ellen (28:52):
and super easy. And, you know, the nice part about it
too, is you can use it for somany different things. You can
use it for shallot storage,onions, and, you know, as far as
labeling, I just get a whitepiece of chalk, and I write the
date and the name of the itemthat's in it, and that way we
know what what it is, which issuper simple and easy.
Trevor (29:11):
I mean, our garlic almost lasted the entire through
the winter. Almost
Ellen (29:15):
it did. I mean, we were into, I mean, honestly, it was
early spring.
Trevor (29:19):
Yeah, we were almost in, back into scape season by the
time we had finished with ourgarlic. And in addition to doing
all of the normal preservationfor the actual garlic itself,
there's always a great time.
Just cut that top of the garlicoff, put it on a pan. Put a
bunch of them on the pan, throwthis, I know you do, olive oil,
salt, just toss them in, roastthem up. They become very
(29:41):
pliable, almost almost like ajam, like consistency at that
point in time. Squeeze them out,squeeze all those beautiful
garlic pieces out. Get somereusable bags that are like
snack bags, that kind of athing, and then flatten them
out. Just put that paste rightin there, flat. An amount, throw
them in your freezer, then youcan just snap off little pieces
(30:01):
as you need it for whatevercooking you're doing.
Ellen (30:07):
You forgot the most important
Trevor (30:08):
part, something about Eating more garlic,
Ellen (30:12):
exactly. So you take some of that delicious roasted
garlic, and you put it on adelicious slice of bread, and
then you eat it
Trevor (30:20):
before you freeze it.
That's correct. Understood, yes,there is no way. I thought that
was, sort of assumed that wewere doing that
Ellen (30:27):
well for us naturally.
Because there is no way you'renot gonna eat that delicious
press roasted garlic before youput it away. That's true, but it
is another great way to storeit,
Trevor (30:40):
and there's lots of you know, you can even take the UN
roasted garlic and do that samething. You can put that in the
food processor, and you can finda way, whatever works for you,
to store it in the freezer andhave the that fresh garlic
available as well.
Ellen (30:54):
And I think the other cool part about growing your own
garlic is it's self sustaining,so before you eat it, process
it, roast it. You're gonna pickout your top, most beautiful,
largest garlic bulbs that you'vegrown, and you're gonna reuse
those to plant for next year. Wejust saved them. Yeah. And then
come fall, you plant them. Youjust break them apart, you put
(31:16):
the put the cloves in, one at atime. And, I mean, we got out of
that. What was the math? So itwas 30 bulbs, and we got how
many plants? About 180 garlicplants from those 30
Trevor (31:26):
, yes. And they were all bigger this year than they were
last year, right? And this ispart of the fun of of you know,
working in your yard, you'resort of controlling this
agriculture that you'rebuilding. That's right. So every
year, your garlic is going toget a little bit bigger and a
little bit bigger and a littlebit bigger, because you're
essentially doing selectiveevolution of your own garlic.
Ellen (31:47):
That's right, yes, just like I'm doing with the zinnias.
Yeah, that's another podcast.
Trevor (31:51):
That's a different episode, but that's part of it,
is that when you pull these,these larger bulbs, and we're
pulling the biggest, biggestones we can find is just making
that next year's harvest thatmuch bigger from each individual
bulb.
Ellen (32:06):
That's right, it is a wonderful feeling to know that
you have created this cycle ofgrowth. And when we have people
come over and sit at the tableand we're serving our garlic
spread and the pesto and makingall the dishes that we make with
garlic, because it is one of ourit's a good absolute go to
Trevor (32:26):
like most people on the planet Earth, it's just last
7000 years. Apparently
Ellen (32:30):
it's so good. It's satisfying. It's so satisfying
to know that this is somethingthat you've put so much heart
and energy into, and you'resharing it with people. I love
that feeling.
Trevor (32:42):
I think also, it's not that hard. It's not like
something you need to do endlessmaintenance on. That's the fun
part. You know, you're selectingthese 30 bulbs to put in and
back into the ground again.
Ellen (32:54):
If you're thinking about what I've never grown anything
before, and you think, whatgarlic is easy. It is so easy,
it really doesn't require a tonof maintenance.
Trevor (33:05):
No, you have to water it. You have to watch out for
certain signs of rot. You canget nematodes and other things
that, you know, pests that canpossibly attack it. But that's
partially why we grow the Germanhard neck is because it is very
hardy. It's very cold resistant.
Not all of the differentvarieties of garlic are as cold
resistant our our zone didchange from seven to seven a so
(33:28):
we're a little bit warmer thanwe once were here in
Connecticut, in WesternConnecticut. But that's, I think
one of the great parts aboutgarlic is you really do have a
pretty wide range of mess upbefore you kill it off.
Ellen (33:45):
So just some basics.
With planting garlic, you wantto plant them in the late fall
or early winter. That soundseasy, six weeks before the
ground freezes. Good luckfiguring that out. So none of
this is an exact science. I lovewhen people say that. You know,
in milder areas you can plant inJanuary and February. That's not
us in New England. But you know,you want to make sure the soil
has plenty of compost, andthat's your basis for
(34:08):
fertilizing your garlic, becauseit really is very easy to grow.
That gives you good waterretention and good drainage. If
you're using good soil and goodcompost, you know it is
important, if you're going to beplanting in fall and you're
looking to harvest in earlysummer, that you have another
fertilization moment, which isin like May, so early spring.
(34:31):
It's a fertilizer that's high innitrogen, because they love
that, but it's important not touse that after that early spring
moment, because that's whenthey're really doing their
growing, and anything else thatyou put in there can interrupt
with the growing. So really,it's really only one note. Then
you get some delicious scapes,then you harvest your bulbs, and
(34:55):
then you do it again. What'sbetter than that? I think it's
amazing.
Trevor (35:00):
Okay, think about this, tomatoes from your yard, garlic
from your yard, Basil from youryard, and a very good bread,
which, if you're growing wheat,could also come from your yard.
We are not currently growingwheat in our yard. No, not
currently. But never, say,Never, just those things
together, the simple, simple,simple ingredients elevated and
(35:26):
from your own backyard, what'sbetter nothing.
Ellen (35:29):
Nothing is better than that. That's true. If you want
to try any of the recipes thatwe talked about today, or look
at our recommendations forgrowing garlic, then take a look
at our podcast show notes,
Trevor (35:39):
and if you want to find out what's going on today right
in our backyard at Stone Brookfollow us on Instagram
@stonebrookhouse. Well, it'sbeen a lot of fun talking about
garlic. Garlic is a great topic.
I'm sure there's a lot more wecould say about garlic. I heard
that you could repair glass withgarlic. I have no idea where I
heard that. Did you bring thatup earlier? That would have been
(36:01):
a much better thing to bring upearlier.
Ellen (36:04):
All right, we're saving that for a future episode as
well, but thanks for being withus and having a seat at our
table.
Trevor (36:10):
Yard to Table is a production of Macrocosm
Entertainment. Don't forget torate us and subscribe anywhere
you listen to podcasts and fortips and more information,
follow us on Instagram@stonebrookhouse.
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