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the Heat of the Summer!
As summer gives its last whoosh of hot air, the garlic dries and the Reed Avocados ripen.
Georgie let us know that the garlic is almost ready. Out of the ground for a couple of weeks, they then hang dry, in the giant barn, carefully releasing the “ground” moisture from the heads. It’s both a science and an art to do it right. Because we only get their very largest heads, the supply is extremely limited.
The top seven varieties Georgie has this year for us are:
Xian
Xian - One of Chester Aaron's (the garlic guru) favorite garlics. Super beautiful bulbs. Light tan wrappers with eggplant purple mottling. A work of art in a garlicky package. Plump cloves that are great for all-purpose cooking, for sauteing and for stir-fry. Sharp hot raw. Hardneck turban type.
Asian Tempest
Asian Tempest - Big, vertically striped purple bulbs. Fat cloves, often only four or five per bulb. Super super hot raw with a spicy garlic flavor roasted. An Asiatic hardneck type from North Korea.
Japanese
Japanese - A very rare garlic, collected from an elderly Japanese gardener in the Pacific Northwest. Distinctive creamy white wrapped bulbs with the biggest individual cloves of any garlic we grow. Often only 3 per bulb. Like most asiatic types, it is VERY hot raw. However baked or roasted it has a wonderfully sweet flavor and creamy texture. Asiatic hardneck.
Belarus
Belarus - A fat, squat garlic with lovely delicate marbled wrappers. Pleasant and rich raw, with a lingering savory flavor that makes your mouth water. Rich roasted and a good variety for all purpose cooking as well. Marbled purple stripe hardneck type.
Vostani
Vostani - Ranks high on our list for personal favorite garlics. Beautifully classic bulbs, slightly elongated, white with a pink overlay and the distinctive "sheen" that gives the "Porcelain" types their name. This variety was collected from an elderly farmer living near the Washington-British Columbia border. Spicy rich raw and very sweet and flavorful roasted. Hardneck porcelain type.
Georgian Fire
Georgian Fire - This is our farm favorite garlic. Absolutely stunning big bulbs with the classic porcelain sheen. These are the beauty queens of the garlic world. Featuring large, cloves, about 6 to 8 per bulb, they are pleasantly hot raw, an excellent "salsa warmer" garlic. We find it to be the best flavored roasted garlic we grow. Creamy like butter with a rich "garlicky" flavor. (we know that it seems stupid to describe garlic as "garlicky" but how often have you had a roasted garlic that tasted like nothing?). We love to roast this one whole, or to cut the huge cloves in half and toss with roasted potatoes or other veggies. Porcelain hardneck type.
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Rice Bran Oil
Delicate yet flavorful, rice bran oil just may be the world's healthiest edible oil. Rice bran oil comes from the most nutritious part of the rice grain, loaded with monounsaturated fats & polyunsaturated fats, as well as vitamin E. These are the good fats that help your body lose weight. |
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Award Winning Oil
The Aqallal family has been producing olive oil in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains in Morocco since 1887, winning more awards and press mentions than any other producer in the region along the way, including Travel + Leisure, Saveur, London’s Great Taste Gold, Los Angeles Olive Oil Competition Gold Medal. All the olive work is done on the estate, from cultivation and harvest to bottling and packaging. The olive oil has a very low acidity level of between 0.1 and 0.2 percent. |
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Belarus Organic Garlic
New! New! New! We have a bunch of new garlic varieties this year! So new that we don't have photos yet! Go to the garlic pages and check them out! Belarus garlic - A fat, squat garlic with lovely delicate marbled wrappers. Pleasant and rich raw, with a lingering savory flavor that makes your mouth water. |
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Garlic Sampler
Can't decide? Like Surprises? Like a sure thing? Always wanted to compare how different food can be? This garlic sampler will fulfill all of these and more! But, beware, once you switch to hardneck garlic you won't go back to the grocery store, plain Jane, softneck garlic. |
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Beautiful Lard
It's the summer and it's pie and crumble season! Add the finishing touch to your baked goods with a bit of lard from the amazing Mangalitsa. Shelf stable just like we used to use a 100 years ago on the farm, but with better rendering. |
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Garlic Olive oil
The intense but nicely sweet flavor of organic hard-neck Italian garlic balances perfectly with Giuseppe of Etruria's organic Late Harvest extra-virgin olive oil. Adds a little zip to those wonderful Italian sauces, or drizzle over to a crust of toasted Italian bread with a little sea salt. Yum!
Unlike infused oils, which tend to lose flavor, crushing garlic and olives together maintains the pure flavor of each. |
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East Coast people
Choose this Reed for shipping to East of the Mississippi. Don't forget shipping is a big cost for the Reeds and all the fresh foods. |
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West Coast People
Choose this for shipping West of the Mississppi. Order early, the yield is small this year, the biggest go first.
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Lavender Shortbread
Lavender is Botanical Bakery's signature Shortbread Cookie. They have a proprietary process to deliver the purest lavender buds/blossoms possible. The combination is heavenly -- with a perfect balance of herbaceousness and sweetness. Nothing perfume-y or soap-y here.
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Fennel Pollen Shortbread
The pollen is collected after the bees have feasted and the aroma and taste are at their peek. Unbelievable. There is the sweetness of honey, a hint of anise, and a savory and complex something... Yum!? |
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Pernigotti Cocoa Powder
This dark, unsweetened cocoa powder is in a class unto itself. Pernigotti, the famed Italian chocolate maker, removes less fat from its cocoa (20-22% fat content), which results in a more intense and immediate chocolate flavor. This wonderful cocoa is Dutch processed and has a touch of ground vanilla bean. Our regulars know what a great cocoa this is! Now back in Stock! |
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Ginger Shortbread
Double the Ginger! Botanical Bakery uses Ginger People's (Monterey, California) Organic Crystallized Ginger Chips and Ginger Powder to create a deep ginger taste. Clean and bright.
Wonderful with an Oolong tea, Guatemalan coffee, Cabernet Franc, or Cambria Pinot Noir.
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| Upcoming Cooking classes - class size is limited to 12 |
Mexican Cooking Class with Chef Erin
Come celebrate the leep-year Mexican style! Mexican cooking is full of subtle techniques, savory ingredients you never expected, and combinations of flavors that make your eyes pop... and our taste buds smile. And since the class ends with eating on the dishes we prepared, you'll go home with more than enthusiasm for the delicious cuisine. Recipes include: Tomatillo Salsa, Guacamole de Tocino y Jitomate, Nopales (cactus) Salad, Frijoles Refritos, Carne con Chile Colorado, Helado de Chocolate y Chile Pasilla.
Italian Table Class with Chef Lesa
Some of Italy's most famous foods have their roots in rustic, country fare. In this class learn how to make dishes that are typical of the Italian countryside - not fussy, and completely satisfying. We'll be preparing: Stracotto (Pork Stew with Mushrooms and Juniper); Creamy Polenta with Pancetta and Rosemary, Roasted Tomatoes and Eggplant, Semolina Cake with Pine Nuts.
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| This Weeks Recipes |
Banana Cream Pie Recipe
Just because bananas are around year round, doesn't mean that you can't have it alongside a peach cobbler!
Peach & Pecan Empanadas Recipe
Grilled Avocado with Blueberry Mango Salsa Recipe
Grilled avocado is so good. If you use the big Reed Avocados, then half an avocado per person is more than enough. If you use Hass avocados, then two halves per person will work.
There are two keys to successfully grilling avocados. First, the fruit can not be overly ripe - if too ripe it won't hold it's shape on the grill. Second, make sure your grill is very clean. Also, make sure you have a good spatula available to gently scrap the avocado off the grill when done.
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DESIGN: JODI LUBY & COMPANY, INC. NEW YORK CITY, NY; EMAIL STRATEGY: CRM Group USA, SEATTLE, WA
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