--- Take a trip around Australia with , streaming free from Tuesday 8 August on . Catch the series on SBS Food at 8pm Tuesdays and Thursdays 8.30pm on SBS. ---
As tiny cubes of chopped garlic hit an oiled frying pan in Joel White’s kitchen, an aroma of satisfaction is released into the South Gippsland air.
When uses garlic to make a dish, he cooks with garlic grown in Australian soil. A lot of the time that garlic is from his farm in Arawata, Victoria.
“When garlic goes in the pan, the smell is just amazing,” says White, a cattle and garlic farmer. “I just love it. The smell of garlic cooking is the smell of good food cooking.”
Celebrity chefs, Adam Liaw and Poh Ling Yeow visit Gippsland in the new SBS series, to cook with local garlic.
During episode two, Adam makes a classic lamb roast while Poh features Gippsland garlic in an Italian bagna cauda sauce. Both dishes celebrate the beauty of Australian garlic and the Gippsland farmers – like White – who grow it.
The smell of garlic cooking is the smell of good food cooking.
Not all garlic tastes the same
Although most of us use garlic in our cooking daily, few would cook with Australian-grown garlic. According to the , approximately 300 to 500 tonnes of garlic is produced in Australia each year.
In comparison, Australians consume around 3,500 tonnes of fresh garlic a year. Most of it is imported from China but we also get our garlic from Africa, Taiwan, New Zealand and the USA.
“Garlic is one of the [most commonly] imported products in Australia,” says White, a committee member of the
“If you’ve only been cooking with the garlic sold in the mainstream supermarkets, you may not know how [all the different types of] Australian garlic tastes. Garlic that is grown in Australia just has such a different flavour.”
"I was inspired to grow the crop once I understood that you don’t need a lot of land to make it work.” Joel White.
Different types have subtleties that can influence the flavour of a dish. For example, he says, Spanish roja has a nutty taste while French Creole offers sweetness.
“Porcelain garlic is super hot and will blow your head off if you eat it raw. You can’t add it to just any dish because it’s so hot – you have to make sure your recipe is the right fit for it. Porcelain garlic is a really good match for Indian dishes that are meant to be spicy.”
Garlic that is grown in Australia just has such a different flavour.
Embrace the garlic
Up until a few decades ago, garlic wasn’t too popular in Australian cuisine. The ingredient was considered ‘smelly’ and a lot of people were not used to its flavour.
Luckily that’s no longer the case. New waves of migration have grown Australia’s understanding of food. Culturally diverse dishes are the norm and home cooks have embraced garlic as an essential ingredient in their kitchen.
Recently, there has also been a resurgence of interest in the Australian garlic growing market. White is one of the newer garlic growers on the Australian scene, having just started growing the ingredient on his 300-acre cattle farm around five years ago.
“I went to the [that was held about 30 minutes from my farm] and realised how many people were growing garlic in the area. I was inspired to grow the crop once I understood that you don’t need a lot of land to make it work," he said.
You don't need to be a farmer to produce your own garlic. White believes garlic is the perfect plant to grow on a budget in your backyard. You just need to buy three or four crops of a varietal that’s suited to the climate you live in. Then, watch the garlic grow.
“I would encourage everyone to come and buy Australian organic garlic. Get a couple of pots and plant them in the backyard. You can start experimenting with different garlic varietals that offer different flavours and use what you grow in your cooking.
“Growing garlic at home is so easy. I really believe that anyone can do it.”
