Falmouth Farmers Market

Falmouth Enterprise

By: Patricia Gadsby, August 8, 2014

Georgian Fire, Spanish Roja, Persian Star... This year's wonderfully varied garlic crop is now at the market. Peachtree Circle Farm had is annual "garlic pull" two Saturdays ago. It was a festive day. A merry band of friends, neighbors and volunteers pitched in to help Carrie Richter harvest the many hundreds of bulbs she planted last fall, in rows carefully labeled by variety. At afternoon's end, the bulbs lay in great heaps, most of them hardnecks, with their varietal names initialized on the woody necks or stalks: GF, SR, PS, and many more.

Freshly harvested garlic is mild and creamy, but needs refrigeration to keep it that way. The fresh bulbs appear at the market for just a week or two. To increase shelf life, most garlic is cured. Carrie hans hers from the rafters of her barn. you can also spread the bulbs inside open weave baskets, she says, which allow for good air circulation. Keep them somewhere dry, ventilated, away from sunlight, until the bulbs have papery skins and the capsules around the cloves have toughened up.

Fully cured bulbs should keep for many months. you can find Carrie's garlic at the market while supplies last, along with newly made jars of her awesome garlic jelly.

If you're looking for the market's weekly shopping list and recipe, both still appear on Tuesdays, online, at capenews.net. You can also find news, recipes and pictures at www.falmouthfarmersmarket.org. For updates and newsflashes, find us on Facebook.