½ c. light mayonnaise

1 c.  fat free sour cream

1/3 c. milk

1 tsp. sugar

2 cloves garlic, minced very fine

2 green onions (green top only) finely chopped

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper

Whisk mayo, sour cream, milk and sugar together. Add minced garlic, green onion, salt and pepper. Chill for one hour before serving.   Makes 1 ½ Cups.

Serving suggestion:

Serve over a wedge of iceberg lettuce sprinkled with feta or Gorgonzola cheese and chopped walnuts

Recipe by Cyd Reuter

Ingredients:

• 2 – 3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon pureed scapes
• 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest (optional)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 tsp. dry mustard

Directions:

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl or put them in a jar and shake to blend. Taste and adjust salt and pepper to taste. Add more olive oil to soften the flavor if desired.

Recipe by Cyd Reuter

Ingredients

• 2 roasted poblano peppers, peeled and chopped
• 3 medium onions
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 scapes , chopped
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 2 chipotle chilies diced
• 1 roasted chicken pulled
• 15 tomatillos paper-like skins removed – then washed
• 1 quart chicken broth
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 (15-ounce) cans white beans rinsed, drained

Directions

• Roast the poblano peppers under the broiler turning often, until the skin blisters. Place them in a bowl covered with plastic wrap to cool-  when cool; peel, seed and chop the poblano peppers.
• Chop the onions and red and yellow peppers. Heat the oil in a large pan- Add onions, yellow bell pepper, poblano peppers, scapes, chili powder.
• Saute this mixture until the onions are tender.
• Wash and stem the tomatillos then run them through the food processor until you have attained a puree with some chunks
•  Add the tomatillos, the broth, and the hand pulled chicken to the onion and pepper mixture. Season to taste, with salt and pepper. Simmer for 1 hour
• Add the beans and cilantro
• Cook a final 5 minutes to heat thoroughly and serve with a garnish of Mexican white cheese, cilantro, and sour cream

Recipe by Cyd Reuter

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons Pureed Scapes

Note to puree scapes:  chop 5 scapes and put them in the food processor-  drizzle a little olive oil in and puree–   use only enough olive oil to moisten the scapes.

Here’s the recipe for roasted tomatoes for freezing from Byerly’s free cookbook.

12 tomatoes

20 cloves of garlic (you know I LOVE that!)

5 large thyme sprigs

1/4 c Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

(I add chopped onions – also yummy)

You’ll need a large pot of boiling water, and a large bowl of ice water

1.  Score tomatoes with an x and place in boiling water for approx. 2

minutes until skin starts to come off — place tomatoes in ice water to cool and remove skin.

2.  Cut tomatoes in half at the equator, remove all pulp and seeds and place in a bowl.  (This can be used for tomato sauce or strained to make tomato water — good as a base for veg. soup with andouille sausage)

3.  Spread Olive Oil on a large cookie tray, place tomatoes flat side down.  Sprinkle with fresh thyme and crushed garlic and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in an oven at 180 – 200 degrees for 10 to 12 hours, or overnight

– 7 or 8 hours if you have a convection oven. (I do around 350 first – watch closely – maybe 30-60 minutes, then turn the temp down to 200

- 275 depending on your oven)

The tomatoes are done when they are dense, like fresh apricots. (I don’t go that far…perhaps half that far)

Allow tomatoes to cool, slip into a sturdy freezer bag, push out air, and freeze.  (Reserve Olive Oil from pan for salads, or other uses)

Uses:  Side dish alongside roasted meats, a perfect pizza or bruschetta topping, cut up for a quick pasta sauce, or added to lasagna — also can garnish individual plated apps with a roasted tomato half with a bit of fresh mozzarella and a basil leaf and drizzling the composition with Olive Oil, good balsamic vinegar, or a simple vinaigrette!

Enjoy!

Gina

This is a classic Chinese ‘peasant’ dish.  This version comes to us from Giselle our niece Carol’s Chinese friend.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp of Plum Creek Garlic (minimum!)
1 Tbsp of Vegetable Oil
2 Tomatoes (or a small can of diced tomatoes if it’s the middle of winter)
1 Egg

Note:  you can expand this recipe.  The basic proportion is approximately 1 egg to two medium tomatoes although of course you can change that to your liking.

Instructions:
1) Saute garlic and vegetable oil in a pan until cooked
2) Remove cooked garlic and set aside
3) Dice tomatoes or pour tomatoes from can into pan and fry
4) Remove cooked tomatoes and set aside
5) Scramble eggs until almost cooked
6) Add garlic and tomatoes and scramble into eggs

Add salt and pepper as desired!

If you want the garlic to have more ‘kick’, don’t saute in advance but add it to the dish a minute or two before it is finished cooking .

(Updated September 4, 2012)  Many garlic growers in the upper Midwest have reported yellowing leaves and premature browning resulting in both crop loss and smaller garlic heads at harvest.   Some growers had 100% crop loss while others have had little or none.  Plum Creek Garlic experienced about a 70% crop loss by weight.

A very small bacteria called Phytoplasma has been identified as the most likely culprit via DNA testing.  The specific type of Phytoplasma infecting garlic in Minnesota has a common name of Aster Yellows and is transmitted from plant to plant only by the Aster Leafhopper which carries the disease from infected plants.  It is not completely clear why this happened in 2012 although very large Aster Leafhopper infestations in late April and early May were documented in a University of Minnesota Extension report.    One of the authors of this report said they were finding as many as 70 Aster Leafhoppers per square foot in Barley.  If you do the math this is over 3,000,000 Aster Leafhoppers per acre!  This author thought the warm spring in the south and several large rain events in late April and early May brought them north in extremely large numbers.

Normally Leafhoppers are not considered a garlic pest and many remedies for Leafhopper problems on vegetables often include garlic as a key ingredient to repel them.

While the garlic cloves themselves are fine and taste great, the wrappers typically have a deep purple or dirty brown color.  Aster Yellows infects the growing parts of the plant and does not infect the soil or move through the air.

Reports across the Midwest indicate many crops, flowers and vegetables have been infected by the Phytoplasma disease this year.  North Dakota State University reported on an unusual Phytoplasma infestation in wheat in 2012.  Read about it here.  Canada also reported large losses due to Phytoplasma in wheat and you can read about it here.  It appears Phytoplasma affected garlic production in Edmonton, Alberta approximately 13 years ago and in Argentina garlic a few years earlier than that.  Phytoplasma are very common and found in many plant species although the Aster Leafhopper is considered the only insect vector for Aster Yellows which is the specific type that infected garlic this year.  See the USDA Phytoplasma Resource Center for more information.

Phytoplasma will winter over in infected perennial plants and it is likely infected garlic bulbs will carry the disease into the next year although no one knows if this will happen or not.  Some growers are using their seed stock for planting this fall.  They are counting on the garlic having developed a resistance or being able to select garlic that did not acquire the disease.  After having some additional testing and with an abundance of caution, we are not recommending using any of our garlic for planting this fall.  Using our garlic for planting will not hurt the soil or cause any harm, however you risk not having a healthy crop next year.

We strongly urge anyone interested in growing garlic to only buy from a grower that has had their garlic tested for Bloat Nematode.  Plum Creek Garlic has tested negative for 2012 from the University of Minnesota.  We only grow garlic in one field at a time and we submit five plants from that field for the test.  You can view the test results here.

Garlic Bloat Nematode is a serious pest and can destroy an entire crop in one season.  For pictures and a detailed description from the University of Delaware click here or for a description from Cornell University in NY click here.  This tiny parasitic ‘bug’ has been devastating garlic fields in the East and has been found in several fields here in the Midwest.

Just wanted to thank you again for the advice you gave me on how to take care of my garlic. Those huge cloves of Armenian are now in the ground with a good layer of pine straw on top of them. Thanks again for going out of your way to help me and I look forward to trying some of your other varieties next year. God Bless you and your family.

Sincerely,

Tim

information on garlic varieties.