Um, I was referring to "why the brie of today tastes more like any old bland white cheese instead of like the sharp, aged brie of the 80s"...

I liked the sharp, AGED flavor we could get in the 80s much better. The current brie is not worth the $$.

Yum to that Garlic! Its one of my favorite things!

Guess you are out of luck on the brie question for now. My appliance guy also said that the products (even our beloved Kenmore) are coming out of China (or at least parts) and explained why the older ones are better. We also have a 25+ year old refrigerator in the garage he said to hang onto. It doesn't freeze as well as the new one (great for ice cream that can be actually scooped and eaten) but never needs repairs.

Yes, until they stopped broadcasting in analog, I was still using the Sony color TV I got at Christmas 1980. Picture was still great.

And the 4WD Toyota pickup I bought in 1988 only just gave up the ghost - probably could have been avoided if I could have afforded to FIX the problem right away instead of limping along with stop gap measures until I saved up for the new part......

But this has nothing to do with garlic and I don't want to hijack the thread so I'll stop.

Mary, I will be in Anchorage July 14, before leaving for a week of fishing on Kenai Peninsula, at a lodge between Kenai and Kasilof. I might just be able to bring you some of my gourmet garlic if you think that would work for you. I am overnighting at the Millennium.

Hey DrDawg - you planning a trip to Pittsburgh anytime soon??

Or Houston?

Actually,
If you just put a few cloves in the mail, I'll reimburse you for postage. How's that?

Sorry, I have a business not a charity. LOL

I sell my gourmet garlic by the pound but I am several months away from knowing what I will even have. My garlic has never been through so many super-cold days/nights (for the deep south, that is), so time will tell how the planting held up.

Is that really LOL?

Sorry it took so long for me to come back to this thread!!

Oberon46, I think your growing conditions in Anchorage are very similar -- if not better than -- what we have in the Michigan UP (although I am in the "southern UP," which is certainly a lot better than the "northern UP"). This past winter you had MUCH better temps than we did, so I'm hoping my garlic is going to be okay; the last snow just left my garden and I have "floating row cover" over the patch of garlic and haven't actually looked under there yet, but it does appear that things are poking up. Fortunately there was at least 3-4 feet of snow covering the garlic so it was well insulated and I suspect it will have done fine. The garlic does need a fair amount of moisture, but likes well-drained soil. As DrDawg said, there are LOTS of great varieties of garlic, really pretty interesting how different they can be. I personally prefer the hard-neck type just because all the cloves are similar size and just easier to deal with. As far as preserving, if the cloves are peeled and stored in oil in the refrigerator they would probably be okay, but not at room temp -- I've read that the oil provides a perfect environment for botulism. I store my garlic (after curing in the shade for a couple of weeks) pretty much the same as DrDawg described -- in paper bags, which I leave in my unheated (but rarely goes below freezing in there) garage. You can also peel the cloves and put them in a jar filled with a mixture of vinegar, sugar and salt (1 cup peeled cloves; 1/2 cup rice vinegar, white wine vinegar or distilled white vinegar; 1/2 tsp sugar; 1/2 tsp pickling salt), tightly covered with a nonreactive cap and stored in the refrigerator, which will keep for a year or more.

Incidentally, use reasonable care when breaking apart the cloves from the garlic head for planting, so as not to damage the end where the roots will form. And plant with the pointy side up!!

I understand that all of these storing options exist, though I have never used any of them. Since hardneck will easily keep for 4-6 months (in a plain, brown-paper bag in a pantry), softneck for 6-8 months, and Creole for 8-12 months, I simply have never seen a reason to store them any other way. Though all that I grow are heirloom and are considered "gourmet" garlic varieties (and grown organically), the Creole is the "King" of the garlic varieties. It keeps the longest, generally has the most flavor and pungency, and keeps its flavor/pungency when cooked. The only real advantage of the hardneck varieties is that it can be successfully grown in northern climates where the other varieties of softneck and Creole might not grow well if at all. If someone wants to braid the garlic, softneck varieties are what you want to look for.

Check out the forum "Co-ops, Group Buys, and Classifieds.

I had somewhat forgotten how many different "types" of garlic there are, never mind how many varieties! Here's a link to an article that describes the various types: http://www.hoodrivergarlic.com... It appears that I would have to plant creole garlic in the spring -- might have to give that a try next year!

Ken, do you still have garlic for sale?

Yes, Tee. I am still taking pre-harvest orders. In fact I will dig up some of my hardnecks today and begin the curing process. Contact me via email or Tree-Mail. [email protected]

Sandy, I would never, ever tell anyone that something is doomed for failure, but Creole may not be your best choice. These, along with most softnecks, do better in the south and in more temperate areas of the northwest. Hardnecks are much more suitable for the northern tier of states. That being said, you could do an "experiment" and let us all know how it turned out. I love experiments!

WeedWacker, thanks so much for your information. I think a good part of my problem is that I plant them in spring. They rot so easily that the thought of planting them in the fall to over winter sort of boggles my mind. Seems like they would rot for sure. I wonder if that would work for onion sets also? I know that the UP get pretty ferocious weather so if you can grow it, then I should be able to also.

Thanks again (and also DrDawg) for your info.

Mary

PS. I looked at the garlic url. What about the Asiatic garlic. It looks to be under the hard neck varieties? Would that also work here?