Why is New Zealand garlic so expensive?

You may have to pay heroic prices for home-grown garlic. Photo / 123rf

By Checkpoint of RNZ

Someone once said shallots are for babies, garlic is for heroes, but you may have to pay heroic prices for the home-grown stuff.

At Woolworths a single bulb of garlic costs $4. Garlic imported from China is selling for $3.99 cents a bag, with about a dozen bulbs in a bag.

Murphy’s Garlic chief executive John Murphy, who is chairman of Vegetables NZ, told Checkpoint there are extra challenges to grow garlic in New Zealand.

“We do have some special challenges in New Zealand, particularly compared to some of those other markets overseas. Our land and our water are significantly different in terms of what we pay.”

“The good thing for us is the combination of those things means that we end up with product that chefs tend to opt for.”

However, Murphy does recognise that there is a place for imported garlic.

‘People seem to want more of what we’ve got, and we’re pretty confident that ours is a little bit different."

New Zealand garlic has more of a flavour punch, he said.

“The tests we’ve done showed that it’s got three times the flavour intensity. You wouldn’t want to eat any of ours raw, that’s for sure.”

He said prices now are pretty consistent with what they were at this time last year.

“Our own crop is just coming onto the market now, and so we’re starting to get that at the stores now.”

“The advent of pricing per bulb is actually a relatively new thing and it actually shows consumers exactly what they’re paying for as well.”

Paying $4 for a bulb reflects the cost that goes into it, he said.

“I think that over the course of the season, you will see that possibly come back a little as well, but that’s close to where it should be I would say.”

“If you look at items around the supermarket a bulb lasts quite a long time: If you pay $13 a kilo for pre-cooked sausages and you use half of them in a night for your family, you’re talking about $6.50 for the night; If you look at a bulb of garlic, it’s probably going to last you two weeks, maybe even three as well.”

New Zealand garlic has three times the flavour intensity. Photo / Getty Images

Comparing New Zealand garlic to garlic from China, Murphy said he would be able to tell the difference.

“If you go back a generation not many people ate garlic and so I think to have, particularly Chinese garlic being available to people, has increased the number of people eating garlic.”

“Convenience is a big thing, but there is no New Zealand garlic in jars, so it is a different product and I think that you’d find a jar in most fridges around New Zealand.”

He said retailers are responsible for showing the difference between New Zealand garlic and imported garlic.

“If you look at ours, it will generally have the roots still on it. The roots would have been trimmed. Garlic from overseas ... has the root completely removed and scooped out.”

“It may look beautiful, but [in] New Zealand, we have more of a focus on actually the integrity of the food, the taste of it, and it will look like something that has been grown in a field.”