Even the French are embarrassed: there’s no violet garlic left

Unlikely and utterly preposterous: the French have run out of violet garlic. Grown only in one small part of France, violet garlic has a more delicate flavour and odour than white garlic and can be eaten alone.

The Brits are feeling the culinary pain. The sole British importer of violet garlic, has had to abandon selling the precious bulb – which he sources from the village of Cadours, near Toulouse – for the rest of the year.

The reason for the shortage appears to be a special status allocated to violet garlic by French growers to protect their product after the discovery that garlic from Spain was being passed off as French.

This has given the already highly regarded product a snob value, and has put it even more in demand. Especially the Germans and Swiss have been buying the highly prized bulbs in large quantities.

It’s also a socio-economic problem. Producers of violet garlic are retiring and no one is coming forward to take their place. Profits have been smaller in recent years, and the challenge from traditional white garlic (imported from China and Latin-America) is immense.

Is this the end of another great French food product?

Source | More about Cadours and violet garlic (in French)

[tags]France,French,garlic[/tags]