Garlic crush - and rebound

New Zealand's garlic industry nearly collapsed in the late 1990s. Now, it's back. Photo / Alan Gibson

In the ’90s the market for New Zealand garlic all but collapsed, but it’s on the rebound, particularly for the organic variety.

Modern medicine may have some wonder drugs up its sleeve. But it has yet to invent a pill that cures as diverse a range of ailments as garlic does.

The humble but potent bulb has been in the human medicine cabinet for at least 5000 years. Its use has been documented as far back as ancient Egypt. It protects against heart disease. It lowers blood pressure. It cures athlete's foot. As a powerful antibiotic, it helps the body shake off infections.

Chris and Judy Coney can't grow enough organic garlic. Photos / Alan Gibson

Those are just some scientifically proven uses. The folk remedies are even more diverse. Avoiding the common cold? Sleep with garlic paste in your socks, under your feet. Sore throat? Gargle hot water with crushed garlic, manuka honey and a pinch of cayenne. It works, says Tauranga garlic grower Judy Coney; but only do it thrice daily, she warns, or it can burn your throat.

Judy and her husband Chris grow organic garlic. They grow lots of organic garlic - 90,000 heads of it in their biggest season. But that's just a drop in the bucket of what the New Zealand market can absorb now, Chris says.

In the late 1990s, when cheap Chinese garlic flooded the market, New Zealand's garlic industry nearly collapsed. Now, however, for high quality growers such as the Coneys, the pendulum is swinging back.

"The demand for organic garlic is high now, because there are lots of people realising that the Chinese stuff that is fumigated and blanched is not grown under any strict regime," Chris says.

Certified organic garlic, grown without the fungicide and herbicide sprays that other NZ growers use, commands premium prices. Chris and Judy Coney used to get $6 or $7 a kilo for their crop; now they get up to $20. "Now that it's organic, I can't grow enough really," Chris says.

That higher price is a reward for a careful growing process. Not a drop of weed spray can come onto a certified organic farm, so all that garlic has to be weeded with a hand hoe - which takes a while once you're growing thousands of bulbs.

Chris Coney recalls a conversation with a conventional grower who was about to spray his field: "They'll do the weed spraying of 20, 30, 40 hectares before lunch - and I'll hoe one row." But it's worth it to stay safe, Chris says. "I've always been a bit petrified of the different sprays."

The Coneys eat their fair share of garlic, too. There are soups, salad dressings, garlic breads, garlic mashed potatoes, casseroles... "There's always the smell of garlic coming from the kitchen," Chris says. Judy concurs: "I use it in everything." Then she qualifies that statement: "Well, we normally don't put it in the desserts."

The Coneys' garlic can be found in Remuera New World, one of Auckland's biggest mainstream suppliers of organic produce.

Some like it raw

Unfortunately, cooking reduces garlic's healing properties. The key medicinal qualities are thought to come from allicin, a short-lived compound that forms from two chemicals combining when raw garlic is minced, crushed or chewed. When eaten, freshly chopped garlic's antimicrobial goodness spreads through the body.

"Garlic's volatile oils are excreted through the lungs, which makes it helpful for any infection or inflammation in the respiratory system," says naturopath Tyson Hammond of Wellgrounded Healthcare.

"In the digestive system, it can kill any infections or pathogens within the digestive tract and be beneficial for the gut flora."

Fortunately, there are tasty ways to get raw garlic down. One is Judy Coney's salad dressing of lemon juice, olive oil, crushed garlic and honey.

Another is her rough-textured guacamole. Mix mashed avocados with minced garlic, tomato, red onion, lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Just tell everyone your garlic breath is the smell of vibrant health.