Garlic Tasting Party

Garlic Tasting Party

I’ve hosted many a wine tasting over the years but this week I hosted my first Garlic Tasting party! Last year the only thing I failed at growing was garlic. Not being one to accept defeat by a vegetable, I decided to plant my 2025 garlic crop in the fall. I ordered four different varieties which included Elephant, Early California, Music and Spanish Roja.

In June, I harvested a bumper crop of all four varieties! Bella helped me hang and dry them, being careful to remember to label each one. With the garlic now ready, I decided to host a garlic tasting with my East Orchard Mesa “Rif Raf” friends (that’s our call sign in the group text world) to see if we could distinguish a difference in taste. In the end, my tasting party evolved into another Farm to Table gathering as I also provided a variety of different salads all made with different vegetables and herbs from our Market Garden. Our friends also brought various dishes and wine! Two of our friends are wine makers and they brought several bottles of their wine. God, I love living in Palisade! Fresh produce, boutique wines made by our good friends and amazing company!

The tasting was a hit! I took notes as our friends tasted and from their feedback, I now know what I will replant for next season and what I won’t. The following is a summary of each garlic variety:

Early California

Very mild in flavor, perhaps good for non-garlic people as the flavor was so mild it was almost non-existent. However, it spread well over crostini.

Music

This was one of the leading favorites! It is flavorful, roasts well, is soft and buttery. The Music has the classic garlic flavor with a note of strong after taste that lingers on the tongue.

Spanish Roja

This was the number one favorite, which makes sense as it is also noted as a favorite among gourmet chefs! It too roasts well, is flavorful but leans toward the sweet side.

Elephant

This is your classic roasting garlic as the cloves are huge! That said it too is super mild and was noted as a little bitter. Once roasted in olive oil with no additional spices the cloves were very spreadable and easy to apply to the toasted baguettes. Prior to this tasting the Elephant garlic is the first roasted garlic I’d had as an appetizer at a restaurant in Chicago, many moons ago.

So, there you have it. We started the evening with a bit of wine, then moved onto the tasting and after that enjoyed a lovely farm to table dinner, sitting outside on the North Patio. You just can’t beat eating alfresco especially when it is with good friends. The conversation, and banter was wonderful! Andy and I are blessed to have made so many wonderful friends, all of which live on East Orchard Mesa, and just a stone through away.

So next year, I will be planting Music, Spanish Roja, and Elephant. The later was not necessarily a favorite of the group but it is still a classic Roasted Garlic go to. I will forgo the Early California and market it this year to folks who are looking for a mild, not so garlicky, head of garlic. If I’m not able to sell it then, I will just use it in my own kitchen, never let anything go to waste on the farm! For planting purposes, I will hold back the largest of the above favorites so I can plant them this fall. This means that my garlic is now self-sustaining… how cool is that!