Garlic Prep in the Couch Surfing Scene

As I continue to couch surf and live out of my car, I am enjoying my gypsy-like lifestyle and planning upcoming activities. (Looking forward to moving back in with Sari though this weekend). With a couch to sleep on Friday night, I had a unique food experience opportunity before retiring to bed: prepping freshly grown garlic. I was staying with a good friend of mine and her boyfriend who live in a super cool warehouse loft; a place that portrays much of what I would like my own place to be like if I ever moved out of my car ;) Old wood floors, big windows, mismatch furniture, wide open spaces, decor with tons of character, and an all natural ambiance with evidence of food prep and preservation throughout.

This place, at the moment, will surely never be taken over by vampires. The garlic can be detected several yards down the hallway to the front door but I loved it! My friend’s boyfriend is the farmer of a community farm/garden here in the city and they are in the process of prepping his harvested garlic for resale. They have been peeling and preparing garlic every night for the last week and there isn’t an end in sight quite yet. I bet she couldn’t have asked for a more excited house guest to come over and join them in the “festivities.” Experiencing any new whole, unprocessed food prepping process is right up my alley.

When it comes to garlic, I have usually just grabbed a bulb out of the basket in the produce section of the grocery store or when I get real lazy or need several at a time I buy the stuff that is already peeled completely. This time it was “farm to table”.

He had planted a few heirloom varieties back in November and the harvest was ready in July. After the plants are pulled from the ground, they are hung up in a cool dark space to dry for 2 to 3 weeks. The garden he farms belongs to the Jane Addams Hull House association and he had hung the garlic to dry in the basement of the Hull House. The Hull House was Chicago’s first and the nation’s most influential settlement house turned museum and the association continues to work at improving social conditions for underserved people and the community. I sort of wished he would have waited to tell me that several stories of ghosts and hauntings have surrounded the Hull House and it is a main stop of many of the “ghosts in Chicago” bus tours. HELLO! We were going into the damp, dark, creepy basement! Needless to say we made it out safely with a basket full of garlic plants and none my pictures showed any signs of paranormal activity but just thinking about it was enough to give us all the heebie jeebies.

*** The Hanging Garlic.....see any ghosts?

After our quick self-guided ghost tour, we made it back to the house and started the prep work; first chopping off the bulb at the bottom of the plant, leaving a little horn extending out from the bulb.

***Bulbs still connected to the entire plant

Next, cleaning up the bulb by snipping the roots and peeling away the outside layer while being careful to leave at least one layer remaining to surround and protect the cloves.

If that last layer breaks leaving the cloves separately exposed, it is susceptible to fungal growth and therefore not really good for resale.

***BEAUTIFUL purple hue of the clean prepped bulb.....characteristic of the variety

***The prepping results

Have no fear! If the last layer is punctured, the cloves are fully taken care of. After being completely peeled, they are ready to be dehydrated, pickled, roasted, or cooked into salsas or tomato sauces.

***Yummy dehydrated and pickled cloves!

Let’s just say they are a pretty busy couple working on this years garlic harvest. Very happy to have been able to view the process and at least take part a little bit. I paid my rent in cloves that night.