This summer I got my first delivery of fresh Ontario garlic from Mama Earth. I didn't recognize it...it tasted and smelled, well, fresh. It seemed barely related to the dry supermarket imposters (Product of China) I've been buying for years.
I started going out of my way to look for local garlic. It was nowhere to be found in supermarkets - the closest I found was Mexico, and that took some time. At my local farmers market there were plenty of choices, however, I had to be ready to pay up to $3.50 a head. Shocking to be sure...especially since I could fill my car with Chinese garlic for approximately the same price. But I bought it whenever I could find it. And now, I can't go back. Especially after stumbling across an article about how difficult it is for Ontario garlic growers to compete. How Ontario had 4000 acres devoted to commercial garlic production in 2001. Now there are less than 500. How Ontario garlic growers have been devastated by Chinese imports which flooded our market in 2001. But Canadians like me are beginning to get a taste of the fresh stuff, and we're excited to bring Ontario garlic back to the mainstream.
I just placed my order for 20 heads of organic "seed garlic". I belatedly discovered that you plant garlic in the fall (which explains why my spring planted garlic gave me cloves the size of TicTacs), let it "overwinter" and then harvest it the following summer. Fingers crossed, I'll have evil garlic breath this time next year. I ordered 4 different varieties from The Cutting Veg and can't wait till it arrives. It's going to get it's own bed! It's obvious now that I did not take the photo in this post, but I'm hoping it counts that it is my imagined harvest for next year...no? Photo credit here)
I also ramped up my weekly garlic order from 3 head to 15 heads of fresh organic Ontario garlic for next weekend's (hopefully) annual Tomato Stock. My backyard and kitchen will play host to a group of likeminded friends getting together to make tomato sauce and "put up" (haha..just testing out my new lingo) about 5 or 6 bushels of tomatoes. Since I've been experimenting this summer, I guess I'm the expert. Uh oh, I hope no one gets botulism.
Oh- I'm sooo glad you've written about this. I got some Ontario Garlic at BirchCliff and was amazed at how potent and flavorful it was...it made me think about what I'd been using all this time.
ReplyDeleteTomato Stock sounds like a blast...I'd be doing some Zuppa di Pomodoro!
Tomato Stock was great. Harder work than we all may have anticipated, but everyone bonded as we bitched, gossiped, laughed, and worked! We stared at about 9:30am, and only stopped to gorge on a pizza (the irony of the ordered in pizza not being lost on us). We were done at about 8pm... 81 L of tomato sauce were divided up between the five of us. We're already planning for next year!
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