Like you, we were intrigued when purple garlic started showing up in our Bay Area Imperfect boxes. What started as a quick email to our friends at Jacobs Del Cabo Farms quickly expanded into an Indiana Jones-style journey into the history of garlic in California. Here’s some of what we learned about purple garlic.
A one of a kind village
Our purple garlic comes to us from the old farming village of San Jose de Magdalena. Halfway down the Baja Peninsula is a dusty, steep, and mountainous village where garlic has been planted since Spanish missionaries first planted it over 300 years ago! According to our friends at Del Cabo: “The Spanish liked good wine and strong garlic.”
A history of quality and flavor
Villagers in San Jose de Magdalena proudly do things the old way, farming organically and fertilizing their garlic on handmade terraces with goat manure. Since the garlic often had to travel a long way after it was picked, they bred it for extra-strong flavor!
Record-breaking garlic
To raise awareness about this unique garlic, Del Cabo once made a braid that was over 120 feet long, which set the Guinness World Record for the longest garlic braid at the time. After parading it around the streets of San Francisco, they sold it to the Stinking Rose, an upscale restaurant, where a parish priest blessed it and then installed it on the walls as a proud form of decoration.
Versatile in the kitchen
While our purple garlic doesn’t have enormous heads like you’ll see at the supermarket, it’s got such great flavor that you won’t need nearly as much. This makes it perfect for the avid garlic fans out there as well as the frugal shoppers looking to get more mileage out of their produce. We love roasting it with veggies or using it to upgrade soups.
No matter how you prepare it, we hope you love your next head of Imperfect a little bit more now that you know the flavorful backstory!
2 Comments
Lori Parker
May 31, 2018 at 4:07 pmWhat’s not to love about this flavorful herb? Super high in antioxidants and the anti-carcinogenic agents allicin and germanium as well as illicin, a powerful anti-inflammatory. I was delighted to see two large bulbs in my first box from Imperfect Produce. Crush it to release its flavor throughout your dish. Mince it to sprinkle over your salad or slice it thin and fry it in hot oil for a healthy crunch alternative to croutons. Chop it and steep it with crushed ginger, crushed turmeric (don’t forget a twist or two of fresh ground black pepper to activate the curcumin in the turmeric) and your favorite loose leaf green tea for a super immune building way to start the day–especially when poured over a couple of slices of an organic lemon. Oh, yeah. Garlic, what’s not to love about that versatile, flavorful, healthy herb! -PEACE-
Reilly Brock
May 31, 2018 at 4:46 pmWe couldn’t agree more. Garlic is magical and versatile and a gift to all of us. Thanks for reading our blog!