Green Garlic

Hi Friends,
First of all - how much rain!!! The earth is saturated and rich and healthy and simply delightful. What a blessing!!!

Now and only now is the garlic season. Garlic is one of the few vegetables nowadays that are still seasonal. Due to the many species available today, most vegetables can be grown also in seasons that they once did not prefer. The garlic is "sown" only in autumn. It is actually planting the garlic cloves. Yup, the same as those we eat, and just like in this season you'll notice that the dry garlic at home is sprouting. That is because it recognizes the correct time of the year, just as if it was planted in the garden, and it sends out roots and long green leaves. It is very similar to leeks and green onions, all part of the same family, but it has a very distinguishable delicate garlic scent.

The more it grows, the more you can identify its garlicy characteristics. The clove will look more garlic-like and become a bit pinkish. You can and should eat it entirely including the leaves. As a vegetable lover that is not fond of complicated recipes, I can guarantee that it is a special and healthy addition to practically everything - salads, sandwiches and any recipe. There are many traditional recipes that call for garlic only. You too can grow garlic relatively easily by planting dry garlic cloves at the correct season.

Garlic is one of the oldest cultivated crops. The love/hate relationship with humans began over 5000 years ago.
Not long ago, I came across the following quote: "'it's not you, it's me...you see...you're a wonderful person...I'm simply not built for a relationship, nor am I emotionally ready and, anyway,... you don't like garlic!!!' This is how my relationship with a blue-eyed Latin pilot, who was also a doctor, and an attorney, and a poet, came to an end... I'm sorry, but he doesn't like garlic?? How can I maintain a healthy relationship like that? Even I have limits...."
Garlic is definitely a vegetable towards which it is impossible to be indifferent. Either one loves it, or one very much doesn't, even though it is very healthful.
In the past, an order of garlic-hating knights was established, and there is still a special festival to praise garlic. Shakespeare, apparently repulsed by garlic, instructed his actors not to eat garlic or onion since "we should express sweet breath" while working on "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream".
Green garlic has a very short growing season. Garlic must be planted in the fall and can be harvested as green garlic for only a short period before the leaves dry out. In France they celebrate this time and harvest. Green garlic has a more gentle taste and may be eaten in its entirety raw in salads and sandwiches. It can also be used in cooking as regular dried garlic cloves are used.
So, this week, in honor of green garlic, we will learn about garlic from A to Z (actually aleph thru taph). Garlic - from Alef to Taf:
Aleph - Aioli is perhaps the most well known garlic sauce. There are celebrations in its honor in cities in Provence that continue from the afternoon into the evening in which they serve vegetables, fish, bread, eggs, etc., all to be dipped in the garlic flavored sauce.
Bet - Herodotus the Greek historian reported that the builders of the pyramids threatened to strike if they did not continue to receive their daily ration of garlic.
Gimel - Gilroy, a small town in California, has been the world garlic capital since 1979. Every year they hold a garlic festival which is attended by hundreds of thousands of visitors. It is said that Gilroy is the only place in the USA where it is possible to garlic-flavor a steak by hanging it on the laundry line (Originally stated by Will Rogers).
Daled - Many infections may be cured by garlic which has natural and strong antibiotic properties. Among them are infections of the intestines, ears, mouth, skin (cuts and abrasions), gums and throat.
Hay - Hippocrates said that garlic is a disinfectant and heals asthma, coughing, worms, leprosy and stomach problems.
Vav - Vitamins are more easily absorbed by the body if taken with garlic.
Zayin - Garlic was first mentioned in ancient Sanskrit writings five thousand years ago.
Het - The amino acid Allicin is released when the skin of a garlic clove is ruptured. This amino acid is responsible for the taste and smell of garlic. In addition, it helps to fight against free radicals and assists in weight loss.
Tet - An effective way to repel pests in a garden or to treat infested plants is to plant garlic nearby or to smear the leaves of plants with garlic juice or paste. In our garden we grow garlic in abundance in every possible place.
Yood - There are grandmothers who claim that toothaches may be cured by placing a piece of garlic on the tooth that hurts. Other grandmothers claim that the toothache may be cured by placing garlic in the ear. These grandmothers also claim that a cold may be cured by rubbing garlic on the sole of the foot.
Caf - When Satan was expelled from the Garden of Eden, garlic sprouted and grew from each spot his feet touched (A Muslim myth).
Lamed - It is not clear whether the garlic that grows wild in this country is indigenous or made aliyah with our forefathers from Egypt. These forefathers remembered with fondness "the onions and garlics" that they ate there and brought specimens with them to plant and grow here.
Mem - It "satisfies, pleases, increases happiness and kills mites (?)that are within our kishkes" was said about garlic by our wise elders in the Talmud (Baba Kama).
Nun - Rubbing garlic on your windows and the locks of your doors, as they do in the Balkans, prevents the entry of vampires.
Samech - Sacordilia is an ancient Greek garlic sauce. Jason and the Argonauts who set out on their adventurous journey to retrieve the Golden Fleece ate full bowls of this sauce:
6 potatoes
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1 cup olive oil
1/2 cup vinegar
3 egg yolks
Cook the potatoes and mash them with the garlic and the salt. Transfer to a food processer and slowly mix in the oil and the vinegar. When it is thoroughly mixed add the egg yolks and mix until fluffy. Serve with cut vegetables.
Ayin - Ezra the scribe states in the Talmud that "whoever eats garlic on Shabbat evening brings love and gets rid of bad impulses". (Talmud Yerushalmi, Masechat Megilla).

Peh - In the pyramids of Tutankhamen they have found ancient remnants of garlic, which proves that garlic was used during that period also for religious purposes.
Tzadik -Garlands of garlic are hung on houses to repel bad spirits and children's necks are decorated with necklaces of garlic cloves. Even King Henry the V was covered with garlic and wine at birth.

Koof - There is only one or two calories in each clove of garlic.
Resh - The smell of garlic may be decreased by eating parsley or any other green plant that is rich in chlorophyll (the material that makes it green). To get rid of the garlic smell from your hands, rub them with salt or lemon. It is recommended to eat garlic together with other people..
Shin - In the year 1330, King Alphonso the 11th founded in Castilia the order of Knights who carried the flag of garlic hatred.

Taph - "Garlic cures all!" The Greeks and the Romans recommended garlic as a medicine for all sicknesses. Parisians in the 16th century believed that if you eat butter and garlic throughout the month of May you will enjoy good health all year. In England they used garlic to help them treat infection during the First World War. In Russia, they stopped a rampant flu epidemic with garlic. Even today, garlic is prescribed and sold widely in pharmacies in drops, pills, etc.
Garlic is recommended to anemics because it is rich in iron and vitamin C. Garlic thins the blood, prevents clotting, raises HDL (the good cholesterol) and lowers LDL (the bad cholesterol). In Chinese medicine, garlic encourages the flow of "chi" (energy) and increases sweating. Garlic is related to your lungs and skin.
Have a great, Healthy and Green week.
Yours,
Maggie

And we expect in this weeks baskets:

Butternut squash!

0.5kg broccoli

Tamar cherry tomatoes half kg

Cabbage

Potatoes

Carrots

Onion

Lettuce

Tomatoes

Ramiro peppers

And Dill

Big ones also:

Cauliflower

Coriander

Beets

and green Garlic

Fruit baskets

Avocado

Lemon

Oranges

And tangerines