18 years ago North Dorset sheep farmer Mark Botwright received a handful of garlic bulbs from wife Wendy for Christmas. Impressed by the success of these first bulbs, he replanted and replanted again. As sheep prices plummeted, with the foot and mouth crisis and a general downturn in the farming industry, it was garlic that provided a new window of opportunity. Now with the sheep gone and a new West Dorset location, the business is flourishing. This year 4 varieties totalling 700,000 bulbs will be harvested.
Alongside the more mainstream garlic offering, Mark sells garlic scapes and black garlic, marketed under the “British Black Garlic” label. Looking for a way to improve his year round offering, Mark stumbled across a 4,000 year old Korean recipe for black garlic. The garlic is fermented for 40 days, and then dried out for a further 10. The result is far removed from the raw astringency of fresh garlic; cloves of deep brown, almost black, sticky richness. The taste has been described as being almost like fine balsamic, slightly sweet and smoky. It’s developed quite a following; with celebrity chefs include Mark Hix, Yotam Ottolenghi and Nigella Lawson all declaring their loyalty.
More locally the farm’s produce can be found on menus with a commitment to local sourcing across Dorset. Brett Sutton chef-proprietor of the White Post at Rimpton told me “scapes are fab and we use black garlic in many ways – we recently tried a chocolate and black garlic fondant!” Cass Titcombe of Beaminster’s Brassica restaurant demonstrates just how versatile scapes can be. Here they are fried in a light batter (Fritto misto of scapes and squid with aioli) or thinly sliced and cooked in olive oil and butter in a dish of Orecchiette with scapes, pine nuts and parmesan.
Finally, they are oven roasted whole, with asparagus and a romesco sauce of piquillo peppers, marcona almonds and olive oil. Black garlic is added to a dressing of olive oil, lemon zest, oregano and slow roasted tomato, to accompany slices of rare Dexter rump of beef (Dexter rump Tagliata with roast tomatoes and black garlic).
Scapes are a seasonal product, only available for a few short weeks in late spring.
To find out more I spoke to Wendy from the South West Garlic farm:
What are scapes? Scapes are the flower heads on hard neck varieties of garlic; they are similar in appearance and texture to asparagus and very popular with Chefs. They are only available for a short period during the garlic growing season and are hand-picked from our garlic fields.
How do you recommend using them? You can steam them, bake or grill them, for a delicious mild garlic flavour. Our favourite is roasted in the oven with a little fresh chilli, delicious with grilled chicken, added to pasta dishes or on the top of pizzas.
Your black garlic is a really unusual product. Are you surprised by how successful it has been? We are delighted with the success of our Black Garlic; after winning a 2 star gold award in the Great Taste Awards in 2013, we have seen the sales increase dramatically. When researching the product initially we could see how popular it was in Asia and America so knew there was a market out there but it was just about educating people on how to use it and the health benefits it has.
What is the most surprising way you’ve seen your garlic used? The most amazing and surprising dish was by Simon Wood who won Master Chef this year – Cheese & Onion Salad, Goats Cheese Bon-Bon, Ricotta, Red Onion & Black Garlic, Crispy Shallots, Asparagus & Cucumber.
How can the home cook utilise Black Garlic? Black Garlic is an ingredient that you can add into all dishes which acts as a flavour enhancer; home cooks can find lots of recipes on our website so the best idea is to experiment with it. Our favourite is to make the black garlic into a paste by adding some butter and smearing this over lamb or chicken- delicious.
Your garlic business has grown at quite an incredible rate. How do you see it developing in the future? We have huge plans to keep expanding our business, our aim is to have 1 million bulbs of elephant garlic growing and Mark is always working on new garlic products to launch. It is a real family business and we will keep working hard at perfecting our current varieties and testing new ones to see how they perform in our climate.
Black garlic and scapes are available in farm shops and delicatessens across Dorset. The South West Garlic Farm’s website www.southwestgarlicfarm.co.uk has a wealth of information on where to buy and how to use their produce.
With thanks to Wendy and Mark Botwright of the South West Garlic Farm, Cass Titcombe of Brassica Restaurant Beaminster, Brett Sutton of The White Post, Rimpton and Washingpool farm for their help in compiling this article.
Alison Smith @chefalismith
