I personally love garlic and I use it all the time in my cooking so I try not to miss this event. Plus, it's the only place with a huge selection of locally grown Ontario garlic and garlic products.
(This is a photo down the first row of vendors.)
They have so much garlic it's just amazing!!! The only thing is that local grown garlic is much more expensive. Chinese garlic goes for under a dollar for a pack of 5 where as Ontario garlic goes for $2 a bulb or more. Trust me though, it's worth it. I use anywhere from 3 to 5 Chinese cloves in my cooking or I will use 1 Ontario clove. There is that much of a difference!
(Here is my youngest posing for me in front of one of the vendors)
First, I went to a presentation by Bryan Mailey called "Garlic, Growing and Braiding". In this presentation Bryan talked about all the different problems he has seen with growing garlic along with the processes he uses to correct them. Next he talked about his harvesting, drying and braiding process.
I moved in closer at this point to get a better view of him braiding the garlic. You have to "break" the neck of the garlic before drying, then after a month or so of drying you need to re-wet the steam to make it pliable enough for the braiding process or you will break it.
Bryan made it looks super quick and easy, then after he trimmed up all the loose pieces. It was pretty cool to see.
The next presentation was a pre-registered paid event that I wish I would have signed up for as they had a ton of different things to taste!
Up the next isle, I saw a vendor selling soup. This was a garlic flavored soup with this kind of noodle that I can't remember what it's called. The noodle wasn't very good but I loved the soup broth.
After that I hit another soup place and tried a bowl of theirs, which I liked a lot better. I didn't get a photo because I ate it so fast!
This time around there was an Indian vendor selling samosa with a garlicky tamarind, I tried it too and it was so good.
Little know fact, I have a Ukrainian back ground on one side so I love a good Borscht and cabbage rolls. I spotted this little place but by the time I got over to it, I was already stuffed with soup :(
My daughter spotted Pickles-on-a-stick so we had to get one of those for her :)
Then off to another presentation. This one was a cooking presentation by Christine Gingerich called "Optimal YOU". Christine talked about her book and how she feels that we need to eat more natural with less processed foods. She ended up making three different appetizer and samples were given out for everyone to try. I love watching the live cooking presentation and who doesn't love free samples!
I really wanted to stay and watch the next presentation by Chef D, a local chef and speaker, but the family was getting restless so it was time to go. On the way out I spotted this garlic humor and had to get a photo with it.
I bought a bunch of different garlic on this outing. I kept some for cooking and planted a bunch of it so look forward to me using lots of garlic in the future!
No comments:
Post a Comment