Fabulous herb blinis as a canape suggestion. Blinis dressed with smoked salmon lime zest cheese and black garlic for that final flourish! Great idea Susan

Now is a great time to think about getting cold climate garlic cloves in the ground. We are mid planting, having saved our best garlic bulbs as our seed stock. If you buy cloves, make sure they are Australian grown and have not been fumigated to limit sprouting. Trials last year found that cloves soaked in worm wee or seaweed extract established much healthier plants. We plant cloves a hand span apart in rows a boot width apart - this allows enough space for good bulb growth and sufficient space for weeding. Put the cloves butt end down, pointy end up jut below the soil surface. Mulch really well - too many weeds are the enemy of good garlic growth. Mind you Clyde the wonder dog might be the real enemy - he is good at stealing cloves as they go in....... Last shot you can see early growth on rows planted 10 days ago - they are rocketing away! Happy garlic growing

Thanks to Jennifer for taking on our black garlic cloves - she has a terrific cafe and food store in Wollongong offering beautiful healthy options. Read more here

Chef JR Tiger was the Truck Stop Star on an American food show "Chopped". Seems his winning dish wowed the judges with Black Garlic Gruyere sliders - sounds very different to any truck stop cafe I know. Looking forward to seeing more black garlic on menus around the country. Read all about it here.