TABLE OF CONTENTS
Best Midi-Pyrénéen Garlic Types
Ail blanc de Lomagne is a white bulb grown in the clay and limestone soils of the French Gers and Tarn et Garonne regions since the 13th century. Lomagne garlic is amazingly fragrant, it has an intense flavor and quite a specific shape and appearance: all of the 8-12 cloves are evenly sized and creamy beige with occasional violet streaks.
When marketed, Lomagne white garlic must be dried and shaped in the traditional way - plaited into braids or packed in nets. Because of its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities, Ail Blanc de Lomagne is eaten raw or used for adding flavor to various dishes such as the famous Tourin, a type of French garlic soup.
This variety of a violet tunic garlic is traditionally grown on the sun-exposed limestone and clay slopes in and around the village of Cadours in the northwest of the Haute Garonne region. After the harvest, Ail violet de Cadours is gently breezed over and dried by the vent d'Autan, a warm and dry Mediterranean wind.
The robust appearance of Cadour garlic is far from being indicative of its delicate and sweet flavor. It is available from early summer and, if stored properly, it can be kept for up to six months. This versatile crop is celebrated at the Fete d’Ail, a festival held in Cadours every August.
Ail Rose de Lautrec is France's finest garlic with pink cloves and white skin on the exterior. It is grown in the medieval town of Lautrec in the Tarn region. According to an old tale, a traveller with no money stopped in Lautrec in order to eat, but as he had no money, he paid with pink cloves of garlic instead.
The owner of the inn planted them, and that is how it expanded throughout the region. Its taste is subtle, sweet and gentle and is used as a common spice, adding that extra touch of flavor to many dishes. Mainly used in the culinary world, it also has medicinal properties as it is long ago proven that garlic is full of vitamins, antibacterial, antiallergenic, and acts as a diuretic.
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