Australian garlic guru, author Penny Woodwood, leads the list of presenters at the South Gippsland Garlic Festival.
A relaunched festival is aiming to encourage more people to join the garlic industry. RICK BAYNE reports.
Australian garlic growers might be small in size and low in number, but they have a secret they want to share with the rest of the country.
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Forget the imported cheap stuff you buy in supermarkets. They want you to taste Australia’s real home-grown garlic and appreciate the difference.
They would also like you to start growing it to fix the imbalance in imports.
The South Gippsland Garlic Festival at Korumburra showgrounds on Saturday, March 8, will give people an insight into the industry, showcasing local growers and teaching people how to grow, cook and taste the culinary gem.
With 80 per cent of garlic sold in Australia coming from imports, the local industry wants to get more people involved.
Festival president and Arawata grower Joel White says there’s a lot of excitement about re-launching the festival, which started in Meeniyan in 2017 but stopped during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It was a cherished event in the community and also important to growers,” he said.
“We went back to a blank sheet of paper and had a workshop with previous committee members and the Garlic Industry Association and decided to keep the festival and re-badge it and look for a new home.”
A focus of this year’s event will be on home gardeners and encouraging people to join the industry as commercial growers.
Growers want people to taste home-grown garlic, which has an incredible flavour compared to imported garlic found at the supermarket.
Garlic is the largest proportional import of any fruit or vegetable grown here — and about 80 per cent of the imports come from China.
“There is a phenomenal opportunity for growing garlic in Australia,” Joel said.
“There is a very strong demand for Australian garlic, which is why a lot of crops sell out very quickly.
“We’ve got a long way to go to meet local demand and we’re trying to encourage more people into the industry. There are certainly opportunities in garlic.”
Garlic Street at the festival will feature local growers and their produce, including many varieties never seen in supermarkets.
Growers tend to be small-scale farmers, some up to two or three hectares, but the bulk are less than a hectare. Most are regenerative and chemical-free farmers who grow seven to 10 different varieties.
“There are some commercial growers in Australia, but they tend to stick to varieties that will do well commercially for them,” Joel said.
“They stick to the safe stuff, but growers like myself will grow unusual varieties. The flavours are simply incredible.”
The South Gippsland Garlic Festival will be held on March 8.
The festival will include value-added garlic products such as salts, powders and potions, the ‘University of Garlic’ with industry experts sharing their insights, and celebrity chefs making their best garlic-infused meals.
The talks will focus on home gardeners and trying to get people into the industry with advice on how to get started and the process from planting to curing to selling.
Australian garlic guru, author Penny Woodwood, leads the list of presenters.
“The great thing about garlic is that you don’t need a lot of land to be a commercial grower,” Joel said.
“It suits hobby farmers who might have 10 to 30 acres and they can easily carve off some and do garlic.”
AGIA has about 105 members and most farm their garlic on less than a hectare. Australia also has about eight large-scale commercial growers growing up to five million plants.
The South Gippsland Garlic Festival will also include general food vendors who must feature garlic in one of their dishes, a festival bar with local beer and wines, local entertainers and activities for children.
There is very strong demand for Australian garlic.
