Gilroy garlic growers threatened by Chinese imports

by Joe DiStefano, Posted Jul 1st 2007 @ 9:09AM

Gilroy is a California town that I've thought of as garlic central for as long as I can remember. Even though the self-dubbed garlic capital will hold its annual Garlic Festival this year complete with a Garlic Idol singing contest, there's not much to celebrate these days in the land of the stinking rose.

California growers have been grappling with rising imports of Chinese garlic since the early 90s. Last year garlic from China outsold garlic from California. Growers in California hope recent safety concerns about Chinese imports will spur shoppers to buy their bulbs instead of the imported ones. They're also banking on taste. After a blind taste test Executive Chef Bernard Guillas of the Marine Room restaurant in San Diego raved "Wow! California garlic rocks!" It's a view shared by my brother, Tony, who prefers to grow his own in Orinda, Calif., rather than buy supermarket garlic. Blogger Musafir says he started seeing Chinese garlic at all his local supermarkets and described it as flavorless. He doesn't take such a rosy view on the Chinese garlic issue: he called his post "Death Knell for Gilroy Garlic."

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Filed Under: Farming, Trends, Ingredients
Tags: asia, Bernard Guillas, BernardGuillas, Chinese garlic, ChineseGarlic, garlic, garlic growers, garlic growing, GarlicGrowers, GarlicGrowing, Gilroy, Gilroy Garlic Festival, Gilroy, Calif., Gilroy,Calif., GilroyGarlicFestival, Marine Room, MarineRoom, spices, west coast

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

7-01-2007 @11:07AM Karen said... FYI, the pre-minced garlic imported from China is packaged in water from China. Chinese water is polluted with heavy metal contaminants.
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7-01-2007 @2:30PM Wes said... Personally, I think the garlic I get at my local farmers' market is superior to the garlic shipped from the west coast. I'll give you that shipping garlic 2800 miles is less that shipping from China, but still -- they do grow garlic right here.
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7-05-2007 @2:00PM Pete Lamar said... You have to ask yourself, why are imports clearly stated at markets. Are you going to tell me that this would be something that a majority of Americans would not be for! If someone knows the answer please post .
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7-02-2007 @3:35AM Harsh said... Here is a quick tip. All the garlic heads with the roots chopped off is chinese (probably done to make it survive the long voyage). Compared to local garlic it has not taste. Thinking about Wes's comment (#3), I do not think the majority of Americans really care about what they eat. It is not for nothing we are the fattest country in the world, spend 15% of GDP on health care (the most in the world) and rank right behing Slovenia in developed nations for quality of health care. Food is too often considered as "gas" for the body.... as long as it is cheap .... fill up on it :(.

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7-02-2007 @10:41AM Jewel said... Most upscale grocery stores do acknowledge country of origin for produce (Mom & Pop stores do not). It is still better to buy local produce when you can - those garlic bulbs will have travelled only a short distance to market (lowering oil requirements) and will have been grown under conditions that result in the finest harvest. This works during the summer. Sadly, those of us in the Northeast cannot buy locally grown garlic in February.
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7-02-2007 @7:11PM Mike said... Karen, I'm almost positive they won't use such water. Heavy metal poisoning being a such a profit killer and all...
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7-02-2007 @2:52PM rainey Smith said... Alas! I've never been to the Garlic Festival but my son goes to UC Santa Cruz in that general area and we've driven through Gilroy many, many times. If you just pass the area and get a whiff of that pungent air in the summer you KNOW you don't want any kind of substitute!

Amazing how that area can produce TOP quality strawberries, garlic and artichokes. I've never figured out why Gilroy is garlic and Watsonville is strawberries and artichokes are in a town just miles away. But if you want produce, man!, that's the place you want to be!
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7-05-2007 @12:12PM Tracey said... Chinese garlic is milder in favor. California garlic is more pungent. I know which I'd rather have because I'd rather taste the garlic!
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7-05-2007 @1:19PM MJ said... This one shocked me........I mean I know a couple of people who have digestive problems wiht onions. And a few who wont use garlic because of breathe issues. But a true foodie...would chew up some parsely and get over it! Just about everything I cook has onions and garlic. Not always fresh, but its in there!!!
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