Demand for gourmet garlic is on the up, according to Bedfordshire-based Parripak Foods. One of the UK’s largest processors of fresh garlic, the company has been processing garlic for more than 15 years and has seen a steady increase in demand for the product from its foodservice and food manufacturing customers.
Parripak’s purple-skinned Morado is its most popular variety and is famous for the bulb’s pungency. Best sourced from the La Mancha area of Spain, whole bulbs are brought into Parripak’s dedicated garlic processing unit weekly to be peeled, washed and pureed. Another sought-after garlic variety is the Rose de Lautrec from the Lautrec region in France. This variety is renowned for its delicate flavour and good keeping qualities and has a beautiful pink colour after peeling. Parripak partly credits the increasing popularity of ethnic recipe dishes for the rise in demand of different garlic varieties.
Parripak takes quality control seriously and, with the help of a local university, monitors garlic to check the levels of pungency. This ensures all year-round consistency of product and also helps to take out some of the subjectivity in deciding what garlic to use when developing new products.
Demand for hard neck varieties of garlic, which are grown in cooler climates, also continues to grow. The famous Scottish-grown porcelain garlic is particularly suitable for delicately flavoured dishes, as this particular garlic strain has no bitter aftertaste. The bulb averages between six to eight large cloves and a single bulb of porcelain garlic has three times the flavour of common garlic, as well as an easy-to-peel skin. So famous is this particular variety, that it is celebrated each year in August at the Rose de Lautrec Festival, where enthusiasts gather to swap recipes, and take part in competitions such as who can grow the longest garlic cluster.
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