Planting season is upon us. Our families have been down and dirty helping out at this busy time - all very helpful. Ziggy by contrast, our accounts clerk and miniature Australian horse pushed this chair up and down the path trying to be part of the business action. 

Great garlic is easy to grow providing you have good quality seed cloves, well fed soil with suitable trace elements and a crisp winter. Most cold climate garlic is planted in March and harvested in December. If you can source real garlic cloves (not the imported fumigated-to-prevent-sprouting types) you can split bulbs into single cloves. Prepare your soil by removing weeds, raking it over and adding home made compost, stirring that through. On a large scale you would also soil test and adjust micronutrients like boron. At home, achieving sweet smelling crumbly soil will be fine. Plant your cloves hairy end down, pointy end up at about 35-40 to the square metre. The cloves don't have to be really deep, just keep the tip level with the soil. The rows photo above is before covering the rows back over. We plant in rows, cloves about 10cm apart and rows a boot width apart. Nothing better than being able to put a boot between the rows when you're weeding. Mulch well with fluffed up mulch (we use rice straw that hangs on very well and has few weed seeds) and give it all a drink. Sit back and enjoy your handywork with a cup of tea yourself. Weeks later you will see little green shoots appearing between the mulch. Stay on top of the weeds as the competition reduces garlic bulb size. Water when it is really dry but lots of the time rainfall will suffice. A spray with diluted worm wee will boost growth. 

Later in the season we will blog about how to harvest and dry your garlic bulbs.    

Almost too late to place an order for an garlic gift for your special Easter gift - sick of chocolates? then think of a gourmet gift for your special person. Makes a great change from all that sweetness and lower in calories too! Jump in Monday for postage before Easter
Have a lovely Easter everyone - and if you are in Sydney come along and say hello at the Pyrmont farmers Markets - we will be there hopefully in the sunshine.

Lovely to see James Viles and Biota taking out best dish of the night at this weekend's Taste of Sydney festival - no surprises to us as firstly a great team at Biota and secondly recent buyers of our beautiful back garlic also making an appearance at Taste! Get along today and tomorrow and enjoy lamb with black garlic. 


We met James at the Pyrmont Growers market, sharing samples of black, smoked and powdered garlic. The order for peeled black garlic followed, just in time for Taste Of Sydney. Biota are no strangers to black garlic - recent dishes have seen lamb glazed in black garlic and olive caramel or charred spatchcock with black garlic farro ( a risotto-like dish). You too can create some of these magnificent tastes just place your black garlic order and get going! 

You can read more about Biota's use of local ingredients and their amazing achievements here
Congratulations James - Cheers Jenny and Cathy

Tired of adding to your friends' waistline? Try giving a low calorie high antioxidant superfood present this Easter - all our garlic products are preservative and gluten free, vegan and vegetarian friendly and best of all taste great. Get that same sweetness hit with black garlic and give the Easter chocolate a rest. Black garlic is caramelised purple garlic, held at controlled temperature and humidity for 40 days until white cloves have become black luscious sweetness, ready to match with cheese and a glass of wine. Just right for a grown up Easter gift for your favourite gourmand. Check out our garlic gift range, ready to post to your gift recipient with your personalised Easter wishes. Never fear, black garlic doesn't give you the garlicky breath like raw garlic so not as unromantic as you may think! 

Great morning at Pyrmont meeting lots of people interested in black garlic. Talked about the process that caramelises purple garlic into soft unctious sweet cloves. Lots of tasting samples and recipe ideas to take home with beautiful pots of black and smoked garlic. The products all looked great and despite some drizzle things went well. Positive feedback about great flavours and smells (especially the smell of the smoked garlic, smoked over nectarine wood and lemon myrtle). Getting some low cal healthy Easter presents ready, so have a look at the gift packs loaded on line soon.

The black garlic is caramelised and ready to sell and worth the wait!

Our lovely customer Vida shared her gourmet skills using a fantastic recipe and beautiful black garlic:

" The easy way to make the Ottolenghi Caramelised Garlic Tart… using your black garlic it’s easy peasy and garlicious…


http://britishfood.about.com/od/adrecipes/r/caramelisedgarlictart.htm


All the best to you for a great season.

Vida x "


You too can whip this up - order your black garlic here and we'll send it out to you

Cheers Jenny and Cathy at Garlicious™ Grown