TARWIN Valley garlic growers got to show off their produce at the inaugural Meeniyan garlic festival, in South Gippsland, Victoria, last month.
Thousands of people strolled down the newly-named Garlic Drive and milled in Garlic Square on the Meeniyan Recreation Reserve.
On offer was all things garlic – fresh, dried, pickled and pureed; mixed with beer, honey and ice-cream; and slathered over beef and pork which was then slow-roasted over charcoal.
Children were catered for, with garlic-and-spoon and garlic bag races, making vegetable sculptures and driving rudimentary go-karts.
It was testament to the power of garlic that the cooking demonstrations and education sessions were attended by crowds of people.
Attendees lined up from 9.30am for a scoop of garlic ice-cream, made by hand by Daniel Encel and Hilary Skelton, of Prom Coast Ice Cream and Sorbet, Toora.
Made with smoked garlic, sourced from a grower at nearby Mirboo, the couple initially thought to develop the flavour with a brulee base.
“After prototyping, we went with a Prom Coast standard neutral base, which is an egg-free base,” Mr Encel said.
“It was a matter of trial and error – no garlic weights were specified in any of the recipes we saw – and in the end we went with our gut feeling about how much garlic to put in.
“We were delighted with people’s reception of the garlic ice cream and we’ve got a proven recipe for future Meeniyan garlic festivals.”
Sixty litres of ice cream was made and sold.
It was a similar story for the other flavoured products specially made for the event.
“All the garlic-flavoured products sold out – 240 bottles of beer, 60 litres of ice cream and all the honey,” said organiser, David Jones.
He said a conservative estimate put the number of attendees at “well above 6000 people, based on the number of wrist bands and gate receipts”.
“We’ve still to incorporate EFTPOS gate receipts. We’re really happy with the numbers and many store holders have expressed their appreciation with people’s interest,” he said.
Among the chefs showing cooking techniques on the half-hour, Alejandro Saravia, talked about combining flavours of chocolate and garlic and the advantages of using secondary garlic, especially for pickling.
Mr Saravia spent two days before the festival visiting local farmers to talk about their products.
He said it opened his eyes to how hard farmers work and his role promoting quality products sourced direct from the producers.
“I always want to work directly with farmers and find out what their needs are and how can restaurateurs efficiently work with farming,” Mr Saravia said.
“Through a food renaissance, I want to bring attention to the region’s communities and farmers and show chefs in Melbourne they can get their quality supplies direct from the producer.”
Tamsin Carvan, a local providore, demonstrated how to sweat garlic and making a garlic, almond and basil pesto. Mo Vida sous chef, Andreas Becerra, put together Spanish summer on a plate, with a garlic and tomato base.
A sound stage rounded out the day’s entertainment, with performances from the Choir of Hard Knocks, Men at Work’s John Rees, singer-songwriter Sarah Zerbe, opera singer Nicholas Jones and local musicians.
Festival MC and food writer, Richard Cornish, said festivals were ideal vehicles to celebrate farming.
“Without farmers we can’t survive and events like this recognise farmers, the hard work they do and celebrate the basic importance of farmers to communities,” he said.
