Garlic Festival

There is no doubt that tomatoes continue to rank very, very high on my list, mostly because garden tomatoes are so infinitely superior to grocery store tomatoes. However, the most expensive, most precious crop is garlic.

When I first started to try to eat local, the big shock came when I realized that grocery store garlic comes from China. I still buy Mexican avocados, California citrus, and southern fruit (though I try to get it in season), it was unacceptable to get garlic from China, especially when I learned that Minnesota is a good place to grow it.

Last year, I discovered the Minnesota Garlic Festival in Hutchinson, Minnesota, sponsored by the Sustainable Farming Association. I couldn’t get Steve to go out until the afternoon, and when we arrived there were pretty slim pickin’s in terms of seed garlic. The scarcity was compounded by an illness of some sort that struck Minnesota garlic last year.

This year I made sure we left early and we arrived at 10:30, shortly after the gates opened. I have seldom been so excited. Really. All that big, beautiful garlic! So much less expensive than the prices from the seed companies where I’ve been ordering it!

And by inexpensive, I mean $14/lb or $1.50- $2/head. If a head has four cloves, that means 50 cents/head of garlic if it all germinates (and it usually does all germinate). I spent about $45 for an abundance of gorgeous bulbs in these varieties: Music, German Extra Hardy, Montana Giant, Indiana Brown, and others I didn’t bother to write down. Last year I only got German Extra Hardy, and it is delicious, but small. The heads are lovely and have good, thick skins, which means they will keep well. I managed to get about 60 heads, which means they don’t really have to keep, as I’m going through about 3 heads/week and will use even more when I make pickles and salsa.

Here is a photo of the Montana Giant and the Indiana Brown. I asked the farmer if he was from Indiana. He said he lived there for a few years as a child and that his family had been growing Indiana Brown garlic for about 30 years. They got it from a neighbor in Indiana who had it growing wild and they cultivated it. I hesitated because I don’t like the idea of brown garlic– will I think that it is not good when I dig it up? But the story sold me. I had him write the name on the bulbs and will try to track them (given the fact that my peppers and tomatoes are turning out to be totally not what I thought they were, I greatly question my tracking abilities. Somehow the IDs got confused in the transplanting. Garlic is only planted once.)

The garlic festival was very crowded and a great time. There were two stages, one for music and one for cooking demonstrations. We heard a folk band, mariachi, and an Indian cookbook author talking about spices. We also ate a delicious veggie burger and excellent ribs. And what festival would be complete without a few princesses… These were waiting for someone to get them some food. (Princesses don’t stand in line for food.)