Garlic sprouts & greens: a culinary delight
If you’re thinking of growing your own garlic this season, then why not treat yourself and grow some garlic sprouts and greens too!
Planting seed garlic in Autumn gives you the best chance of pulling up juicy, plump bulbs in 7 to 8 months. Here on the farm in Chittering, Western Australia, we get the best results when we sow our seed in March. Harvest time depends on the variety of garlic we grow, but generally we start harvesting garlic in October, with our last bulbs pulled by early-December.
One of the delights of growing your own garlic is the tender garlic sprouts and greens that shoot up out of the soil prior to the garlic bulbs being fully developed.
What are garlic sprouts and greens?
Garlic sprouts are very similar in appearance to spring onions, in that they have green leaves at the top of the sprout and the lower part is white with fine roots. However, unlike the oniony flavour of spring onions, garlic sprouts and greens have a delightful fresh, mild garlicy flavour. As a sprout the young garlic is eaten when the leaves are tender and before the bulb has started to swell. Garlic greens refer to the green leaves of the garlic sprout.
How to grow garlic sprouts & greens?
At The Culinary Farm we hand select seed garlic cloves from our finest and largest garlic bulbs to ensure a good result when our seed is planted. As a part of this process, we sort the larger garlic cloves on the outside of the bulb from the smaller inside cloves. These smaller cloves are unlikely to have the energy store in them to produce a good size garlic bulb, but they are ideal for growing garlic sprouts and greens.
To grow garlic sprouts and greens, scatter small cloves in the ground (or in pots) and lightly cover with good quality potting mix. Water in and by early spring you’ll be enjoying a new season culinary garlic delight! To harvest garlic sprouts, pull the entire plant out of the soil when the plant is about 30cm tall and before the bulb has started to swell. Alternatively, to harvest garlic greens leave the plant in the soil to grow and just snip the leaves off leaving about 2cm of the plant above the soil. Because the plant is still intact, you’ll get a second crop of greens a few weeks later.
Cooking with garlic sprouts and greens
Prepare and cook with garlic sprouts and greens in the same way as you would spring onions or leeks. To clean the sprouts, just remove the tough green tops, cut off the roots and rinse in water. Similar to when cleaning leeks, you may need to remove 1 or 2 of the green leaf layers to ensure the entire length of the sprout is tender prior to using. This culinary delight can be eaten raw by slicing thinly and sprinkling onto salads or scrambled eggs. Tossing whole garlic sprouts onto the barbeque and lightly charring makes a delicious vegetable side dish. Try chopping the sprout thickly and sautéing in olive oil with mushrooms or adding to soups or stir-fries. With a fresh, mild garlic flavour, both garlic sprouts and greens are a great substitute for spring onions, leeks or garlic in many recipes.
Pick-up award winning Western Australian seed garlic from The Culinary Farm
Come visit us at the farmers markets or the Kalamunda Garden Festival this Autumn and get locally grown, spray and chemical free seed garlic to grow your own bulbs, sprouts or greens. For all dates and locations of where you can find us, please check out the market updates on our website theculinaryfarm.com.au
