Garlic!

In the old days, we used to hold up big fish we would catch... now I guess I'm holding up garlic. Still... look at the size of those things -- I seem to have, as they say, caught my limit!

This garlic has been a long time coming. I planted it in November. All spring -- before anything else in my yard (not to mention the garden) was growing -- these things came up. There was a brief scare when their "garlic scapes" didn't come up. But apparently some garlic doesn't grow scapes, so I finally just pulled the stuff. It is currently hanging in the shed to dry out. Then we braid it and hang it in the cellar.

Then... it's garlic time!

I have always been a big fan of cooking with -- and eating -- garlic. A couple years ago I discovered some locally grown garlic at a farmers market; it was eons better than store-bought (which I already liked). And mine seems right along those lines, except I know exactly where, how, and with what, it was grown. (Note: I have become quite food-phobic lately... in other words, if I don't know exactly how a food is made or where it came from, I don't trust it.)

I formerly used a garlic press to crush and cut up garlic cloves, but now I don't because I like chunks of garlic in my food. Then a few years ago, I began reading about the health benefits of garlic: as long as you let it breathe for 10 minutes before cooking it, garlic has all sorts of allyl sulfide compounds that can cut one's risk of prostate cancer in half -- and they reduce the risk of stomach, colon, and breast cancers. Well, I've never been a big fan of prostate cancer, so this fits right with my personal platform.

Excellent -- so it tastes great... and it's good for you too!