Sick of Chinese Garlic

rudboy

Anyone else sick of the tiny garlic all the supermarkets seem to have these days? I was told its all from China and thus cheap, does anyone know where to get the proper pink French garlic in the Dublin west/south area?

Curry Addict

superquinn do it.

huskerdu

I agree. The Chinese garlic I have bought in Aldi and Lidl is dry and not as tasty as the European garlic and the bulb are often tiny.

Tesco do Spanish garlic and possibly French sometimes.

Darkginger

If you have a Country Fresh greengrocer anywhere near you (and I don't know how widespread they are across the country - the Westport one is great) you can usually buy garlic with great fat bulbs, as well as green garlic and smoked garlic. I hate those tiny dried out heads you get in the white mesh plastic baggie things - more skin than flesh, and half an hour in a bit of sunlight, and they start sprouting. I must bury some in a pot tomorrow - easy to grow your own

annamcmahon

I had a thread about this on the general food and drink section and most of the replies seemed to be grow your own. I had gotten pink french garlic in Fallon and Byrne and organic Spanish garlic at a farmer's market and they hadn't been much better than the chinese stuff.

I think I'll grow my own this year.

rudboy

Thanks, i'll try Superquinn and Tesco. Might try and grow me own too, sounds like a good idea

Black Dog

Grow your own; it's the simplest thing to do and the taste is so much better. Have grown own garlic for over twenty years, replanting own cloves each autumn and have a year-round supply.

Ever try "Elephant Garlic", not a true garlic but a member of the onion family and looks like garlic but hugely bigger: one clove as big as a normal bulb. Tried it this year, not a good flavour, very "green", cabbage-like almost. Replanted a lot of cloves but this time just for the flowers.

anewme

Superquinn in Lucan do a lovely french smoked garlic!

Cardinal Richelieu

Most of the supermarkets carry either Chinese or Spanish garlic, usually the Macho variety. 90% of the worlds garlic puree comes from the one factory in China. Not alot of people know that. Imagine living in that neighbourhood!

Cicero

+1 to grow your own...easiest thing to do

rudboy

Just to let ye know i planted garlic about a week ago (fingers crossed). 3 cloves. Hope i put them in right, do they need a lot of sun? I seen great french garlic in Superquinn alright, €2 for one bulb though a bit steep. I think there's Argentinian garlic there now of all places, two in a pack.

The Black Oil

Lidl seem to have these small baskets of garlic - the cloves are about the dimension of a €2 coin or so, Super Valu only seem to have the Chinese stuff. I think the Lidl ones are from Spain.