What's going on with garlic ?

Edwardia

I first spotted small bulbs of garlic from China, in a woven basket in Lidl. Then I found that Chinese garlic has spread elsewhere. It's smaller and you often get just one bulb not individual cloves of garlic.

In Lidl last week, all the garlic was Chinese but packed in Spain. I bought two small organic bulbs in Morrisons for 60p and it says country of origin Spain, but it's so small I'm suspicious of that.

So anyone else found this ? Am now wondering whether I'll have to get mon oncle to send me care parcels of decent garlic :rotfl:

DCFC79

Yep noticed this too in lidl today, my thoughts were that maybe chinese garlic is cheaper.

maman

DCFC79 wrote: »

Yep noticed this too in lidl today, my thoughts were that maybe chinese garlic is cheaper.

I bought some of the stuff in baskets in Lidl a while ago. I found it very strange as it didn't seem to break into cloves like the usual garlic. I must admit to being not very mse when it comes to garlic. I use Lazy Garlic for stirring into things and just keep cloves for things like roast veg. I did manage to buy a few jars for £1 each in Aldi and while back but that was a one-off.

blackandwhitebunny

Its the wrong time of year for local or European garlic which is probably why they've switched to Chinese. Yet I bought seven bulbs for a quid at our local market on Saturday and could have had more, basically I was told 'as much as you can use for a quid, we can't shift it' and its lovely fresh stuff. I'm not sure where its from though.
If you grow your own garlic and the conditions aren't quite right, generally not cold enough when it starts growing, the bulbs don't split so maybe China is growing it all year round?

Lugh_Chronain

Cheap imports like onions from Holland. Lidl onions tend to be mostly from Holland, most likely why they are so cheap.

I tend to get my garlic from a local market (Kingston upon Thames) whenever I need any. They sell 6 bulbs for £1. Haven't been using any for a while now as people at work were complaining I reeked of the stuff. Will need to get some though as I intend making some gazpacho fairly soon.

Emuchops

If you have a 99p Store near you they currently sell large (350g) jars of prepared garlic (and ginger, and chilli). The garlic is very good for cooking, but doesn't taste quite 'right' in raw dishes, like salad dressings. The ginger and chilli are also very good, even raw.

bcl999

Edwardia wrote: »

Am now wondering whether I'll have to get mon oncle to send me care parcels of decent garlic :rotfl:

Oh, don't. Reminds me of the lorry strikes in the 1970's (food distribution was affected) and our Canadian relatives wanted to send us food parcels!

Edwardia

I used to live there myself and my cousins used to send me care parcels of Jello instant chocolate pudding (for those not knowing what this is, it's made like Angel Delight but is much thicker and glossier and tastes creamier).

bcl999

I thought Jello was their equivalent of table jelly - still don't fancy it though.

Edwardia

Jello is the brand and yes they do jelly but in N America jelly = jam.

The most bizarre thing I ate there was salad in lime green Jello. Yep they mixed the salad up then poured jelly over so when it was set you could have a slice of salad. _pale_

bcl999

I thought Jello was clear like Rowntrees Table Jelly, I meant, rather than Angel Delight. I know about the jam - jelly thing.

Re the salad, do you think they had run out of aspic?