In Pursuit of Garlic: An Intimate Look at the Divinely Odorous Bulb

209 Pages·2012·4.6 MB·English

by  Liz Primeau

“Of all the authors of articles and books
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written over the years about garlic, i
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Liz Primeau’s In Pursuit of Garlic is supreme.” p
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chester aaron, author of The Great Garlic Book m
“Finally we get another fine piece of written work from eau n p u rsuit o
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Liz Primeau! The power of garlic takes on new meaning with this
 A  L I C
book. You will not look at a clove of garlic the same ever again.”
Mark cullen, gardening expert and writer-broadcaster
www.markcullen.com
“Incredibly well researched, with a wealth of information
on this magical plant and great recipes too, this book
will certainly find a valued place in my culinary library.”
i
John Bishop, chef-restaurateur and author of n AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE
Simply Bishop’s: Easy Seasonal Recipes A p
DIVINELY ODOROUS BULB
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liz priMeau is the author of My Natural History and the bestselling t Liz Primeau
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Front Yard Gardens. She is also the founding editor of Canadian Gar- o
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dening magazine and gives talks about gardening across North America. f
She lives in Mississauga, Ontario.
$19.95
www.greystonebooks.com
Cover design by Heather Pringle
Cover photograph by Julie Mcinnes/Getty Images
Printed in Canada on fsc-certified paper
Distributed in the U.S. by Publishers Group West
Ebook also available
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In Pursuit of Garlic
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n p u rsuit
o
i
f
 A  L I C
AN INTIMATE LOOK AT THE
DIVINELY ODOROUS BULB
Liz Primeau
d&m publishers inc.
Vancouver/Toronto/Berkeley
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Copyright © 2012 by Liz Primeau
12 13 14 15 16 5 4 3 2 1
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
without the prior written consent of the publisher or a license from
The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright).
For a copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca
or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Greystone Books
An imprint of D&M Publishers Inc.
2323 Quebec Street, Suite 201
Vancouver bc Canada v5t 4s7
www.greystonebooks.com
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
isbn 978-1-55365-601-2 (pbk.)
isbn 978-1-55365-602-9 (ebook)
Editing by Nancy Flight
Cover and text design by Heather Pringle
Cover photograph by Julie Mcinnes/Getty Images
Illustration by Liz Primeau
Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens
Text printed on acid-free, 30% post-consumer paper
Distributed in the U.S. by Publishers Group West
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council
for the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, the Province of British Columbia
through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of Canada
through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.
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C o n t e n t s
# #
1 · A Divine Stink 1
Garlic in History, Lore, Medicine, and More
2 · A Pungent Love AffAir 25
The Art of Eating Garlic
3 · Down to eArth with gArLic 51
How to Plant, Feed, Harvest,
and Store Your Amazing Bulbs
4 · ceLebrAting gArLic 83
Two Festivals and a Universal Passion for Garlic
5 · in the kitchen with gArLic 129
How to Chop, Preserve, and Cook with Garlic
A gArLic Primer 171
What to Plant and How It Tastes
Acknowledgments 183
sources 186
Index 191
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1
A D I V I N E S T I N K
Garlic in History, Lore, Medicine, and More
The bulb, an oriental palace
shrouded in gray and lavender paper,
splits open into a heap
of wedge-shaped packets...
david young, “Chopping Garlic”
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M y garlic bulb, freed from the earth by my trusty trowel,
is a moon more than a palace, a pearly orb with
smears of dirt making a miniature Sea of Tranquility
on its newborn skin. It’s not as round as a moon, but it is undu-
lating and sensual, with papery curves that hide Dracula’s-fang
cloves, their flavor so pungent that if I bite into one right away, it
will sear my tongue and burn all the way down my throat.
But I won’t do that. Garlic needs to mature and ripen to
develop its best flavor, unlike carrots or parsnips or potatoes, which
are at their crisp and sweetest best soon after they’re pulled from
the ground. Garlic is an opposite sort of root vegetable, whose taste
improves with some age, becoming deeper and more layered.
I’ve cooked and savored this divinely odorous bulb, botani-
cally known as Allium sativum, for many more years than I’ve
3
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