Strong case for locally grown garlic
Sylvia Carter, FOOD — A LA CARTER;
Newsday – 9/26/07
Toss out that rancid container of garlic powder into the trash. Think twice before reaching for heads of supermarket garlic; they may have less flavor and possible health dangerous as well. But for now, let’s focus on the positive.
Consider buying locally raised garlic. Or if you can’t find Long Island garlic, buying those “stinky bulbs” from California, a state that produces the most garlic, and, some of the most flavorful. Each year, the garlic harvest is one of the most prized at the community farm I take a share in, Hamlet Organic and let Garden in Brookhaven Hamlet. The tight, well-cured bulbs of garlic keep handsomely too. Each week, I count my share -- four heads one week, four another, maybe a haul of 20 on an especially good week. Will it be enough to last the winter? Americans eat about 3 pounds of garlic each year, and I’m happy to do my part.
Happily, many Long Island farmers now grow garlic, so you can stock up, too.
This weekend (September 29, and 30 2007), some garlic vendors will be selling their wares at the fourth annual Long Island Garlic Festival at Garden of Eve Organic Farm, Sound and Northville avenues in Riverhead. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. both days. Admission is $2, children younger than six free. Farm tours, hay rides, pony rides and a petting zoo will be offered, and there will be live music by the Terry Winchell band.
To participate in a garlic cook-off (disclosure: I’m one of the judges), bring a hot or cold dish featuring garlic by 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Judging will be at 4 p.m. First, second and third place will receive prizes. (A winner last year was garlic popcorn, and the most unusual entry was roasted garlic enrobed dark chocolate.)
Better to buy garlic grown on Long Island than to trust the supermarket supply, which may well come from China. In 2004, according to researchers at the University of California, Davis, only 56% of the garlic consumed in the United States was grown domestically and that number has since declined.(About 84% of California’s crop is sold in this country, according to Mike Davis, a plant pathologist at UCLA at Davis.).
China grows about 75% of the world supply. And garlic is this country’s biggest fresh vegetable import from China; according to a Washington Post story this summer, the United States bought 138 million pounds of it, worth more than $70 million last year.
Garlic from China is cheaper – sometimes a lot cheaper – than local garlic or California garlic, making it tempting. Bill Christopher of the 50-year-old Christopher Ranch in Gilroy California, the so-called “garlic capital of the world”, said that the cost can be nearly double. (Only 2% of the world supply of garlic, grown on about 18,000 acres, comes from California.) His company buys some of it, in fact, to keep costs down.
Health concerns about Chinese products aside for a moment, California garlic is denser in texture than the Chinese stuff and also may have more flavor because the tests have shown that it has more allicin, the odiferous compound that is released when the bold is crashed. While I can’t cite any such measurements about garlic from Long Island, I have found it to be denser, more flavorful and better-keeping then much other garlic.
Since 1994, according to the Washington Post report, fresh and processed garlic have been targeted for automatic detention and surveillance by Food And Drug Administration inspectors. At California ports 13 fresh garlic shipments from China were refused between 1994 and 1996. (Sales of dehydrated Chinese garlic imports have increased 384% in the past 10 years, according to the US Department of Agriculture.) Shipments from other countries have been turned back too; in one case, a Canadian company had repacked Chinese garlic and shipped it, peeled, in 5 pound jars. Reasons for refusal included insect damage, mold and filth.
The Post found, in a search of almost 900 FDA refusal actions from May 2000 and to April 2007, that in May and July of last year, shipments of garlic in mango, tomato and green chile sauce from India were refused 13 times, because of pesticide residue.
Garlic has natural inhibitors against pesticides, and according to Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition and food studies at New York University and author of “What to Eat”, it’s skin also provides some protection against pesticides. To kill microorganisms, she advises peeling and discarding the skin, quickly dipping the garlic in boiling water or searing it.
Still, why bother with imported garlic at all?
As with so many other foods, when it comes to garlic, I am voting with my food dollars to support local farmers. If I run out, I will turn to California farmers. (Look for stubble at the root, which imported garlic will not have.) When choosing garlic, squeeze it. Firmer is better. Bigger is not necessarily better; in fact, elephant garlic is a member of the leek family. Store garlic away from heat and light, and it can last six months.
