Garlics, Garlics and more Garlics!

Last Sunday was a lovely Fall Day.  I sat outside on our deck and prepped and sorted all our garlics from our 2011 Harvest.  All our garlics are Certified Organic and because they have been hardened off, they can be either consumed or planted.  Some of our garlics will available to buy at Happy Tides Health Food Store here on Mayne Island.  

The following Garlic varieties are available to buy at Happy Tides Health Food Store.

Leningrad 

Leningrad packs a lot of punch! It is very hot

and strong. Leningrad has become a staple 

thanks to its excellent flavour, ease of growing

and long storage life. Leningrad is listed in the 

Seeds of Diversity Canada catalogue of 

heritage varieties as endangered and very hard

to find.

Chesnok Red

Chesnok Red is a gourmet delight. 

It is a purple stripe hardneck variety

and one of the best cooking garlics.

Highly flavourful.  It holds its shape 

and retains flavor well when cooked. 

It has large, easy-to-peel cloves.

Northern Quebec

Good strength, flavour, size and 

vigour. A strong, hot garlic! 

Northern Québec is listed in the 

Seeds of Diversity Canada 

catalogue of heritage varieties

as endangered and hard to find.

Tibetian

It is an excellent keeper and has 

a flavour that entices one to 

eat more.

Sicilian Gold 

Sicilian Gold is a medium strength

garlic with a pleasant flavour. 

It has consistently produced 

large softneck bulbs, probably 

of the Artichoke variety.

I reserve a good selection of the harvested garlics for next year's harvest.  I will be planting our own Starry Night Meadows Farm certified organic garlics  Thanksgiving weekend.

The garlics that don't get sold or replanted make their way into the kitchen.  I love to cook with garlics!  I am looking forward to preserving a new jelly made with roasted garlics.  Enjoy!

What to do with Lemon Cucumbers?

Today I was faced with what to do with a wonderful bounty of Lemon Cucumbers from our Greenhouse. So,  I went out onto the InterNet to see what I could find.  Of course, I found many great ideas, but, I especially liked this site.  If you check this site out you will find the recipe that I adapted for my own pickles.  The difference was I cut my cukes into segments and added red peppers with the onions to give some contrasted colour.  The results were amazing!

The Lemon Cucumbers are at their best when they are just turning yellow.

This picture shows how I cut the Lemon Cukes into segments.

Once the liquid mixture came to a boil, I added the cukes and onions and brought it back to a boil.

Just look at the beautiful colours!  I put a grape leaf at the bottom of each jar to help the cukes stay crisp.

Lemon Cucumber Pickles.

Lemon Cucumbers have been called, Lemon Apples, too.

The cukes have also been called, Salt & Pepper cukes because of the black bumps on their skin.  The bumps look like peppercorns.

Whatever you want to call them, Lemon Cukes are a lovely mild, less tart cucumber!  Enjoy!

Apple Time is Here!

Today I picked our Hall's Pink Apples.  They are a pink-fleshed apple.  Not only are they delicious but they are also beautiful to look at and to bite into!

Just picked!

The Hall's Pink apple is tinged with pink flesh on their inside.  

DELICIOUS!

I made some Fermier Calvados Jelly with our Red Fleshed apples

Some of my Preserves made with wines, like the Fermier Calvados Jelly,
included as Wedding Favours.

The apples sauce made from the red-fleshed apples is a brilliant pink.
The flavour is amazing and no sugar was added!