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05/19/2001 Archived Entry: "Linda The Garlic Lady"

I have beautiful braids of garlic hanging in my kitchen and they are not just decorative. Whenever I need a fresh head, I just clip one off the braid and use it. It’s hard to believe, but the garlic, even the braids I have hanging in the hotter part of my kitchen, near the stove, which is about as far from ideal as you can get, will stay plump, moist and fresh for nearly a year. The braid hanging in a cooler spot remains usable even longer.

This is not ordinary garlic, as you must have surmised. It is an Italian variety grown for its ability to be stored for long periods. It is also a great tasting garlic, never acrid or overly aggressive. I eat it raw with pleasure. I buy it from Linda Swanson, Linda The Garlic Lady, who grows it on Vashon Island, Washington. I first encountered Linda at the Pike Place Market in Seattle, but she may not be selling there anymore. “I am seriously thinking about only doing the garlic mail order,” she wrote to me a couple of weeks ago. “The Pike Place Market is ‘ruling’ farmers to death. They are making it so regulated it is losing it's wonderful blend of characters.

“I forget sometimes how people love this garlic,” she added. “I have it all the time. This year's crop will come out of the ground around July 4th and be cleaned, cured, braided and ready for shipment in mid August. I received a number of orders from your mention before and we have increased our crop by a third hoping to keep up. There is so much ‘hands on’ with this product I can only grow what I and my husband can personally take care of. I am really afraid of losing quality by expanding too much. I would rather sell less than do more with poor quality.”

Obviously, Linda is a woman of great integrity, which, to me, adds enormously to the appeal of her product.

If you would like to order garlic from Linda, she can be reached at (206) 463-3760. Or write to Vashon's Old Fashioned Nursery, PO Box 906, Vashon Island WA 98070. Her email is garlic4you@aol.com.

Braids with 12 heads of garlic cost $13, plus shipping. Linda suggests that you order early. She will probably be sold out by mid September at the latest. She will, however, hold pre-paid orders for people to send as gifts as late as Christmas.