Long time NQN readers will know that I have a bit of a thing for garlic. I've written about it before and whenever I see Australian grown garlic I get rather excited even bringing it back on a plane to use back home. Most people know that the cheap garlic that you buy in supermarkets for 5 bulbs for $1-$2 is in fact bleached garlic and the taste leaves a lot to be desired. Even the supermarkets who are a bit slow on picking up trends realise that we don't want that the bleached garlic but instead import it from South America adding food miles and exposing us to older stock.
Former model, TV presenter and author Patrice Newell grows her own biodynamic garlic in Elmswood in the Hunter Valley. She has a legion of fans for her garlic, in fact I missed out on getting the garlic one year as it was so popular and is a summer crop. Like you'd buy fruit in season, you need to get your garlic now (there's only a few weeks to go!). Damien Pignolet, Kylie Kwong and Tony Bilson are all ardent fans of her beautiful, large clove purple garlic.
This garlic with big cloves is the hardest to grow. It bruises easily and farmers prefer to grow smaller bulbs with the only exception to the rule being Russian garlic, sometimes called elephant garlic which is really a leek which they dont grow. Patrice specialises in purple hard neck varieties that are planted, weeded, pulled and cured by hand. No chemicals are used at all. Not all Australian garlics are equal too - regular Australian garlic is sprayed more than once during the growing season with herbicides and fungicides. I love cooking with her garlic not just for the taste but because practically speaking the bigger cloves are easy to peel and slice-I'm a practical gal and if you've ever made a garlic rich sauce, it can be annoying peeling a dozen mini cloves!
Patrice says "We set up doing direct deliveries so wed feel closer to our customers and they get to know the farmer that feeds them. Ive become obsessed about garlic and want to ensure our genetic strains are kept. Weve just had 18 year old Subaru here from Hokkaido, learning about biodynamics, he wants to be a farmer in Japan and he now knows all about garlic!"
Well after all of that I just need to let some lucky winners try this garlic don't I? Thanks to the lovely Patrice Newell, three lucky Not Quite Nigella readers will each win a 1 kilo gift box of Patrice Newell's premium garlic delivered to their door to get a chance to try it for themselves! For a chance to win this all you have to do is tell me whats the most exciting thing about getting a box of garlic delivered to your home? Simply add your answer as a comment to the story. The competition ends at midnight AEST 13th March, 2011. Yep this is a shorter giveaway as she wants to send you garlic when it is at its peak! This is open to people within Qld, NSW, ACT or Victoria. Sorry, other states have quarantine restrictions!
*The winners are:
Vicki L. of NSW
Joanne G. of Qld
Rebecca L. of NSW
Or if you can't wait, you can buy it here.
Best of luck!
Lots of love,
Lorraine
xxx
This is a sponsored giveaway
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