Do you know what this is a photo of?
These are garlic bulbils or garlic flowers.They grow from the top of the stalk of the hard neck varieties of garlic.
They start off white and as they dry out they become more and more purple.Many farmers of hard neck garlic remove the bulbils as they are forming to promote the growth of the bulb below the ground. At Daylesford Organics we believe in allowing a plant to grow in its natural form so we leave the bulbils on the plant. Cutting them off is like cutting off its reproductive organs.
The advantage of not removing the bulbils is that we harvest them as well as the garlic cloves when they reach maturity.There are several things you can do with these flowers.
You can replant them. This is an economical way of building up your planting stock. It will take two years of replanting for the bulbs to reach a decent size. Alternately you could plant the bulbils in your herb garden and harvest them as spring garlic, like spring onions.
The other use for the bulbils is the one we are most excited about and that is to eat.Over the past few weeks we have been sprinkling these gorgeous seeds on salads, bruchettas, stir fries and eggs.
They look gorgeous as a garnish, they give that delicious garlic kick and all without the bother of having to peel them or prepare them in any way.
Can you tell we are excited!!
If you buy some garlic bulbils from us over the next few weeks, we would love you to share your own personal bulbil recipe with us. Please leave a comment on this blog or email us at kate@daylesfordorganics.com
See ya.
