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The garlic harvest

Last week, the garlic leaves started to turn yellow, which was their little way of telling me they needed harvesting. So I carefully pulled them all up, clutching the stem as far down as I could. I always handle garlic as though I am carrying eggs: bruises when harvesting and storing can lead to rots later on.

I dried the bulbs outside for a week by tying the leaves and stalks around the railings on our balcony. Once the bulb coverings had turned to ricepaper, I carried them gently inside and removed excess dirt and roots before storing in the coolest, darkest room of the house. Keeping garlic in the fridge can encourage mould and some foodies argue it weakens the flavour.

There will inevitably be a few bulbs which have been damaged during the harvest. So use these first, as they will not store well.

And if you cut off scapes from your garlic plants a few weeks ago, you can use these to make an extremely fiery pesto, or chopped in pasta dishes. You can even use the flowerhead.

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