Garlic in French is pronounced ail. The word garlic derives from old English, garlēac, meaning gar (spear), and leek, as a 'spear-shaped leek.

Some would say it’s more a vegetable than a herb but in French cuisine, it’s considered a quintessential herb.  Garlic is part of the lily family which also includes onions, leeks, and shallots. Allium sativum is a perennial flowering plant that grows from a bulb. It has a tall, erect flowering stem that grows up to 1 m (3 ft).

Whilst white garlic originated in Asia they think over 7,000 years ok it is now found all around the world. It’s used for culinary and medicinal purposes. Medicinally it’s often used as an herbal remedy for colds and is thought to reduce blood pressure, and cholesterol and even been proven to have antibiotic properties.

Ancient Egyptians would give their slaves a daily ration of garlic as they believed it would ward off illnesses and increase their strength and endurance. When they found Tutankhamun’s tomb apparently there were garlic bulbs scattered around but I’m not so sure how that could be, sure remains of gold jewellery or bones of people but garlic bulbs. Well, I’m sure it wasn’t eatable.

Roman invaders brought garlic to Europe in the medieval era. Roman soldiers were issued with garlic to take on their campaigns as they thought that garlic inspired and gave courage. The Roman generals even had garlic planted for their armies to use. 

In the Middle Ages, it was thought that if you soaked garlic cloves in vinegar and then drank it this would help ward off the plague. Of course, it is also thought that garlic would keep vampires away from your neck but as far as I know there is no proof of this in fact not fiction.

Because of its strong odor, garlic is sometimes called the "stinking rose”. In the 14th century, a Spanish king actually decreed that knights who had eaten garlic had to wait four weeks before they could appear in court.

Many cuisines around the world embrace garlic but notably, some have not until most recent times, like the UK for example where the cuisine didn’t really use garlic until famed TV chef and cookbook author Elisabeth David's travels started to use it in her cooking to overcome the somewhat bland food being made in post-WWII kitchens.

In France Louis Pasteur in 1858 proved to the world that garlic had medicinal value with its antiseptic properties. It’s believed that the French considered garlic and onion to that extent to be an aphrodisiac. But I just think the French considered all food to be an aphrodisiac.

Garlic is easy to grow and can be grown year-round in mild climates. While sexual propagation of garlic is possible, nearly all of the garlic in cultivation is propagated asexually by planting individual cloves in the ground. In colder climates, cloves are best planted about six weeks before the soil freezes. The goal is to have the bulbs produce only roots and no shoots above the ground. Harvest is in late spring or early summer.

The world production of garlic was as of 2020 over 28 million tonnes of garlic a year with China alone accounting for nearly 74% of the total. China is followed by India, Bangladesh, South Korea, Egypt, and Spain as the major producers of garlic in the world.

France produces over 21,000 tonnes of garlic every year. It’s said that the average French person eats around half a kilo or 1.5 pounds of garlic a year.

Several varieties of garlic in France even have been awarded labels of recognition of the region, growing, and preparation standards. Two of the main varieties used in France are planted at different times of the year, spring or autumn but both types are harvested in July and then sewn into braids which will last for several months depending on the variety.

In the northern parts of France and in a particular region called Arleux north of Calais comes a variety of garlic called fume d’Arleux. L’Ail Fumé d”Arleux has a sweet smoky scent to it.

Smoking actually helps to preserve the garlic which is important in the damper climates of North France. Almost 10% of the entire garlic production of France is the ail fume d’arleux.

In Arleux they love their garlic so much that on the last weekend of August, the town hosts a festival where you can try different garlic products including a very popular smoky obviously garlic soup. They even had a garlic braiding competition and elected to crown a Queen of Garlic. I want to be the queen of garlic.

In the south of France, there are two types of popular garlic that are just from the Midi-Pyrenees area, Violette de Cadours and the L’ail Rose de Lautrec. More on these in future episodes of Fabulously Delicious.

Ail de la Drôme is a large-sized, white garlic of the Messidrôme and Thermidrôme varieties, grown in the Drôme region in France. Messidrôme produces large white bulbs with a great flavor particularly suitable for cooking, while Thermidrôme produces ivory-white, hardy cloves of a medium-intense flavor.

Both types have a characteristically sweet, fresh taste, a short aftertaste, and are soft on the palate. Ail de la Drôme is sold either fresh, dried, or semi-dried. Once available only at the local farmers market in Valence, today it can be bought in many other places across the region, thanks to the Association of Drôme Garlic Producers. 

Overall there are more than 12 different varieties of garlic in France and other varieties include Auvergne garlic, Gascony garlic, Cherrueix garlic in Brittany, Corsican garlic, Ail du Languedoc, Lautrec Pink Garlic, Drome garlic, and white garlic.

Possibly the most knowledgeable and influential early 20th-century French food critic Maurice Edmund Sailland Curnonsky said “Une caresse d’ail revigore, un exces d’ail endort” translated he said. A caress of garlic invigorates, and an excess of garlic deadens. This I think is perfect advice for any dish that you’re making with garlic.

Whole garlic should be kept in an open container in a cool, dry place, away from other foods. Kept in this way, it should last for two to three months. If you separate the cloves, they will only be kept for around 10-14 days.

Don’t keep whole garlic in the fridge because the moist air encourages mold. You can freeze garlic whether it’s whole, peeled, or minced. The easiest way is in whole cloves. Just separate them, remove the papery outer skin, place them in a freezer bag, squeeze all the air out, and seal it closed. Stored in this way, frozen garlic cloves can last up to six months.

Fresh garlic or new garlic as they called it is available in France from June to July and many French chefs prefer this fresh garlic in their dishes because of its less pungent flavor when cooking. Then there is also young garlic which is basically regular garlic that is picked when the full bulb has not formed properly. It has a single build at the end and with its stem and leaves looks a bit like a spring onion. People in France often eat this raw as It has a crunchy, sweet taste with a hint of garlic.

Ail Géant, giant garlic, or L’ail Rocambole, Rocambole garlic is a larger-sized garlic that is sometimes referred to in French cuisine as rocambole onions.

This garlic is both cultivated as well as found in the wild. It has a rather strong garlic taste to it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t store well and as such is only available for a couple of months of the year.

April 19 in France is guess what National Garlic Day. Yep, the French love garlic so much that they even have a national day celebrating it.

In the town of Piolenc in the Vaucluse region of Provence is the L’Aile en fete a garlic festival that happens on the Wednesday before the last weekend in August through to the Sunday. Five days of celebration of garlic. Over 5,000 people are invited to prepare a giant Grande Aioli for the locals and visitors to enjoy.

About 30 kms or 19 miles from Bordeaux in my region of France the Nouvelle Aquitaine is the town of Sainte-Helene which has its own garlic fete the Foire a L’Ail. Their garlic fair happens every year in the middle of September and the local restaurants along with market stalls celebrate garlic with a wide range of garlic dishes and local delicacies. They even have a parade. I love a good parade.

The late celebrity foodie and chef Anthony Bourdain famously said about garlic.

“Garlic is divine. Few food items can taste so many distinct ways, handled correctly. Misuse of garlic is a crime. Old garlic, burnt garlic, garlic cut too long ago and garlic that has been tragically smashed through one of those abominations, the garlic press, are all disgusting.

Please treat your garlic with respect. Sliver it for pasta, like you saw in Goodfellas; don't burn it. Smash it, with the flat of your knife blade if you like, but don't put it through a press. I don't know what that junk is that squeezes out the end of those things, but it ain't garlic.

And try roasting garlic. It gets mellower and sweeter if you roast it whole, still on the clove, to be squeezed out later when it's soft and brown. Nothing will permeate your food more irrevocably and irreparably than burnt or rancid garlic.

Avoid at all costs that vile spew you see rotting in oil in screw-top jars. Too lazy to peel fresh? You don't deserve to eat garlic.”

And Thomas Nash a 16th Century poet from the UK once said.