Must be something I developed later in life, but everything from growing my own food to cooking brings me happiness 😊
If you never had fresh garlic, I urge you to plant it. It requires zero attention. All you need to do is to plant it at the end of fall before frost and harvest it next year. If you prefer it as a fresh green garlic known as baby garlic which is actually simply immature garlic, you pull it out in the spring, but if you are like me, and like fresh clean garlic bulbs, you wait a little longer and harvest your garlic in the middle of the summer.
If you want more info on How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Garlic, check out the Old Farmer's Almanac.
I grew up in Romania where my mom is still growing most of her vegetables, however, here in the USA, making time for a little garden in this busy world, often comes challenging. But the results are exquisite.
Garlic is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins that are essential for optimum health. The bulbs are one of the richest sources of potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium,
manganese, zinc and selenium. Selenium is a heart-healthy mineral and is an essential cofactor for antioxidant enzymes within the body. Iron is essential for red blood cell formation.
It contains many flavonoid antioxidants like β - carotene, and vitamins like vitamin-C. Vitamin-C helps the body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals.
I also tried for years to grow the most popular "leustean", known as lovage, and it took a small box in our community garden to finally come to a successful fruition. Here now my beautiful "leustean" comes to life every year. Another tasteful beauty which grows in its splendor under the right environment. Needs nothing more than some trimming not to bother the neighbors with its glorious size.
Lovage root is high in vitamin K, calcium, and vitamin C, and contains a good amount of potassium and magnesium. It also offers a significant amount of the flavonoid known as quercetin, which can help with pain reduction and inflammation, lower blood pressure, boost the immune system, and ease skin irritations.
For an instant brunch today, I quickly used my last avocado and boiled an egg. I added some Cayenne, few lovage leaves and a chunk of fresh garlic bulbs.
The mix of flavors was insane !!!
I must love GARLIC :-)
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