How anyone can hate garlic I will never understand. While it was revered good enough as gift for the gods in some cultures, it was not even worth feeding animals with in others.

Im not quite sure why I only learned about garlic that my great grandparents grew a few years ago when I have been a chef for more than 25 years, somehow it never occurred to anyone. But when my mother told me she had some family garlic bulbs I got too excited. She told me it was randomly mixed in a pot with ginger that just grew every year and died back and mostly left to its own demise.

I ran pretty quickly to the homestead and went to dig up some bulbs. I wanted these in the hands of someone who knew how to take care of them and grow them out so they didn’t disappear. Unfortunately there is very little information about this garlic. Most likely was from a farmer in the area and planted in a small house garden. We don’t have farmers in the family but most everyone had a garden and grew some of their own food.

This garlic was probably planted by my family about 100 years ago on the family homestead by Claude Randall (my great great grandfather). They bought a piece of property in Alabama where they built thier family home. My great grandmother was a child so I know this garlic goes back at least four generations.

A story told by my grandmother:

Claude Randall was my ancestors birth name but when he registered for the draft they wanted a middle name which he didn’t really have so he said Claude A. Randall. Then they wanted to know what the A stood for so he said Augustus. Hence he named himself Claude Augustus Randall. He grew his own food to feed the family but they never saw themselves as gardener’s. Funny how definitions changes. In my eyes if you can grow any kind of vegetables you are definitely a gardener.

On remembering how the garlic came me:

“I (Aunt Lynn) remember going to the house when I was a child they were renting it out by then. But then the house sat empty for a long time through different hands in the family and eventually deteriorated. Aunt Ginger had the house scraped. She went to the location about 10 years ago in the spring and the garlic was coming up so I dug up some and kept them alive, but not happy, till now. Then your mother grabbed a few bulbs from me and that’s the garlic bulbs you rescued from the pot”. That property is Lynns now. Anyone currently growing garlic in the family do not use it, only grow it.

pics of growing drying preserving garlic

Garlic is one of 700 allium (onion family) plants. And there are approximately 452 varieties of garlic that are categorized 8 ways. Those categories fall under soft neck and hard neck.

This beloved spice unfortunately does not do its best in Florida. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t grown here. Over time certain varieties were culled that grew best. Garlic we know today that is mass produced and received in grocery stores is a very generic and singular variety. It’s probably one of the most recognized flavors.

The first year I was introduced to some of these garlics I was asked to provide feedback about the different varieties. I found a neutral oil and let them steep for some time. I unlocked a new level of flavor. Then I had the opportunity to go to a garlic festival in North Carolina (which I just found out isn’t exciting to non-food people) and not only taste many different garlic products, but also pick up some bulbs to plant the following spring.

That gave us about 8 different varieties to grow out. But Florida did not cooperate and only the few original varieties survived. They are all smaller bulbs with really small cloves which makes them much more tedious to prep than your standard grocery store garlic. I will still choose these varieties because of their flavor. I don’t see a Florida produced garlic going mainstream but I do see gardeners adding some of these to their gardens just like great great grandma did.

Just a few days ago I got to see the family garlic in the garden with new shoots. With three years in the seed garden where Melissa tended to its well being, we were able to give them back to my mother this year for her to grow out on our new family homestead, Peacock Hill. Pic of garlic beds at peacock hill

Up until now, this story like many were only passed down orally. Had I not inquired about my family history of gardening and cooking this could have gone to the grave never to be known again. This is par for the course in much of our history. I hope if you are reading this you are inspired to write some of your own stories down too so that your voice and words are remembered.