As I’ve mentioned previously, our friends Ian and Diana Ditchfield grow their own garlic, and we stock up every year when they harvest their crop.
The three kilos Di dropped off today are absolutely gorgeous – aromatic and almost luminescent in their freshness. And whilst the garlic isn’t certified organic (certification is an expensive process), Di and Ian started their crops with organic stock, and have fastidiously kept them chemical-free.
If you’re in NSW and would like to order some, you can contact Diana via email – djditchfield(at)hotmail.com. They’re charging $30/kg this year, or $20/500g, which I think is a bargain for such tenderly nurtured produce.
In terms of storage – we freeze most of our garlic, broken into unpeeled cloves. It loses its crunch in the process, but we haven’t noticed a difference in taste or cooking quality – the added advantage being that freezing makes the cloves much easier to peel and mince.
If you don’t want to freeze it, the garlic will keep for quite a while in a cool, airy spot. This batch was so fresh that I’ve braided some of the bulbs together to hang in the kitchen (great instructions online here)!
Next step…Dan Lepard’s roasted garlic bread recipe!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
thank you for the wonderful rapp. the photos are simply beautiful. yes the garlic is a little green still, but the aroma and flavour is great. we are continuing to dry, but is a great opportunity as you said to plait.
best wishes for christmas and enjoy all the fruits of your labours. ian.
Ian, I’m having so much fun with the garlic! I rebraided them this morning based on instructions I found online, and I’m giving the larger braid to my mother for Christmas. :)
Thank you for growing such a wonderful crop and letting us buy it – I’m so happy that I don’t need to buy the bleached stuff in net bags anymore!
Cheers, Celia
Mrs C
Interesting…. I also heard that these will protect you from vampires?
Harry :)
Ha! I was wondering how long it would be before someone mentioned that! :)
Hope you’ve been well, Harry, we’ve missed you!
GORGEOUS! I adore garlic. I put garlic in everything… my husband says I would put garlic in birthday cake if he would let me. I’m not THAT bad… :)
It is truly gorgeous garlic. It’s amazing how having a lot to play with opens your mind to recipes never considered before – I’ve been thinking about that chicken with 40 cloves of garlic recipe that was so popular a few years ago! :)
Where do the Ditchfields grow their garlic crop? My mother gets a fantastic lot of garlic in central west NSW. I keep asking her to put in enough for the whole family, but of course, that never goes very far…
I had some success in Sydney with Russian Elephant Garlic one year, but kept losing the bulbs. I suspect they rotted in wet weather.
Rather wish you were our neighbours!
Do enjoy your blog.