[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by teach1234

Anyway that's probably more than you wanted to know.

You got that right.

No actually I think that's interesting, and now I do want try growing it..if only I had room in my little garden. But I'll still continue to buy the little bit of garlic I use at the grocery store, mostly prechopped in little jars.

[teach1234]

Organic growers are certified by the state; they are generally prohibited from using pesticides and weed-control agents. Even treated wooden posts that are used in a fence or a drying shed must be encased in concrete. Without chemicals to control insects and weeds, there is a lot of hand labor involved, which reduces the ability to maximize profit. Growers who aren't certified organic usually use the same methods--either you have millions of dollars of machinery, or you don't. What I will say here is unsubstantiated, but some is accepted public knowledge and some is common sense. Huge commercial growers are interested in maximizing profit first, and product quality is further down the list. Organic growers allow a field to lie fallow after several years; we used to rotate crops every year. When you don't plant in that field, you still need a cover crop like clover, timothy, oats etc. or the weeds will take over. So now you need machinery to harvest that (cutters, bailers, etc.--if you just plow it under, the organic material will not completely decompose and rob oxygen from the garlic). Without going into the vagaries of hay farming, trust me that commercial growers will lose money doing this so even if they don't plant garlic they keep the field in use with something else. The soil is depleted and kept in operation with tons of fertilizers, minerals etc. and never has a chance to truly recover. If anybody knows about the specific methods used to keep fields in operation in the truly big farms, I'd really like to hear about it so I can correct any misconceptions I may have.

Two factors determine the strength of garlic--the first is the soil, and the second is the seed. You save your best and biggest bulbs as the seed for next year's crop. Therefore, all the seed from the garlic sold in most stores will produce only mild (IMO weak) garlic. Local growers receive around 5$ a pound from commercial seed companies, which sell it for around 16$ a pound. Because agro-business has taken the route of quick and easy garlic, they can never afford to switch to a different variety because most people are unaware a garlic costing 16$ a pound (on the retail end) is far superior in taste and heat.

I've tried to make this dip (and other things) using store-bought garlic but it just doesn't work. It seems like no matter how much you use, there is just a hotness threshold that can't be reached due to the seed and the soil. Anyone who likes garlic really owes it to themselves to find some organic in the strains I mentioned earlier--only a personal experience will convince you that there is such a huge difference in taste. Not to mention when you buy it, you are supporting, if not a local grower, at least a farmer who is small and trying to produce healthy food.