Author Mi Ae Lipe’s Bounty From The Box: The CSA Farm Cookbook is perhaps the one book you don’t want to be without as you open your CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] box or head out to the farmers’ markets. It is your guide to over 90 different crops; with it you’ll never wonder what to do with your CSA contents again.

Few plants attract such polarizing opinions as garlic. Whether you consider it a delectable flavor or a rambunctious stink bomb, garlic is used almost universally in the world’s cuisines. Garlic is actually the plant’s mature bulb, which consists of numerous cloves clustered around a central stem. It is classified as either hardneck or softneck, and literally hundreds of heirloom varieties exist, with bulbs whose personalities range from soft and mellow to spicy and pungent. Commercially, garlic is widely grown and in season year-round, but it is typically at its best from late July through early winter. Here are some garlicky thoughts to chew on.

• Choose bulbs that are fresh, dry and plump with unbroken skins. Squeeze the bulbs lightly to check that they are firm, with no large gaps beneath the skin, which could mean shriveled, dehydrated garlic well past its prime.
• Garlic is delicious stir-fried and sautéed, but care must be taken so it does not burn, or it turns unpleasantly bitter. Always use plenty of cooking oil or butter when stir-frying or sautéing garlic; chicken broth can also be used when the pan becomes too dry or if you are watching calories.
• Garlic responds wonderfully to slow-roasting in the oven, losing its ornery pungency to become a sweet and mellow creature. You can easily prepare a whole bulb by cutting off its top (the pointed end) to expose the cloves and then placing the head in a baking dish or wrapping it in aluminum foil. Sprinkle with olive oil or butter if desired and bake at 350 degrees F for about an hour.
• Never store raw garlic in oil at room temperature; even in the refrigerator is chancy, as sulfurous compounds in garlic provide ideal conditions for breeding botulism, the most deadly natural toxin known to humans. Garlic can be safely stored in wine and vinegar if refrigerated; the high acid content of these mixtures prevents the formation of botulism.
• Try to avoid using garlic powder or dried garlic granules. These forms of garlic often have an unpleasantly acrid, metallic taste, and they can also worsen digestion and bad breath. Stick to using fresh garlic whenever possible!
• To deal with the unpleasant breath that consuming garlic tends to cause, chew sprigs of raw parsley or mint for several minutes after eating a garlic-heavy dish; the chlorophyll is quite effective in temporarily absorbing the distinctive odor. Or, simply associate with others who like garlic just as much.