'Quartz' garlic is King Island's newest famous food
"Yes, it's King Island quartz" market gardener Paul Daniels says, holding what looks like a cluster of pebbles in his hand.
"It's rock hard and it's got this nice purple colour under its white skins."
Quartz Garlic ( Photo : Rose Grant)
As the island's only market gardener, Mr Daniels puts a lot of store in his soils.
But in this case, King Island 'quartz' is a special variety of garlic that is gaining renown all the way from Sydney to his small island on the western edge of Bass Strait.
"What's amazing about it is that it's still good," he said.
"It's really high in that garlic flavour, allicin.
"That's enabled us to get some markets in Sydney.
"So we'll sell the main heads as 'King Island quartz' and then just the individual cloves as 'King Island quartz crystals'."
The garlic is only one of a huge suite of vegetables the Daniels grow in their biodynamic market garden near Currie.
But the distinctive variety is expanding the range of foods King Island is famous for beyond beef, cheese and lobster.
"We thought, 'well we'll just go to a few markets and see if there was any interest' as there was pretty much a complete absence of Australian-grown garlic," Mr Daniels said.
"We just recently went up there and had a crate of garlic.
"People [in Sydney] were quite receptive, but we couldn't sell any at the time and we just got a few contacts at various markets.
"Then before we got back actually, we were just driving out of Sydney and one guy rings up [and says] 'you haven't left Sydney, have you?'
"I said 'yeah, sorry', so we had to stop at Goulburn actually and pack up eight kilos of garlic and send it."
The variety also starred recently at King Island's annual long-table lunch featuring the best local produce from the dedicated King Island farmers.
Now the orders keep coming in, Mr Daniels said.
"This one is for 130 kilos.
"Hopefully it will reach quite a few people and they'll be wiser for next season.
Source : ABC Rural Rose Grant February 25th 2015
