"Hudson Valley Garlic Festival (Saugerties, NY)" Topic

My wife and I found out about the Garlic Fest in Gilroy, California, just before we moved away, so we've always pined for a garlic festival. (By the way, there is nothing on this earth quite like following a big agricultural truck loaded full of fresh-picked garlic…)

And then my wife recently learned there was a garlic festival only an hour's drive from where we live, and that our friends were going – so we drove to Saugerties, NY, today for the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. hvgf.org

What a fun event! Lots of garlic, lots of food with garlic, live music, friendly people, farm people selling produce, crafters selling their wares, and all sorts of interesting food. Garlic gelato (thumbs up!). Garlic fudge (thumbs down). Garlic gyro (pretty good). Garlic cheese (pretty good, lots of varieties). Garlic jewelry of all kinds. Garlic shots (apparently non-alcoholic).

Did you know that out of the hundred-plus varieties of garlic, when they ran the DNA tests in 2003, there were only 18 different kinds?

There was one lady there who starts with plain cotton cloth, dyes it with her own patterns in natural indigo (rich blue color), and sells her own cloth and products (bags, shirts, skirts, tablecloths, etc.). I was impressed. Her company name is True Blue something…

And we got the garlic cookbook autographed by the Queen of Garlic herself!

There was also a dancing group of men holding white scarves, in some sort of ethnic costume – they were great, but I didn't see a sign explaining who they were…

We stayed for five hours, and still didn't see everything. Things I didn't try: fried pickles, garlic chocolates, fried dough (always wanted to find out what this was – lines were too long!).

Wish I'd had time to stay and listen to more of the great music. Mark Rust in particular had some wonderful, humourous songs – markrust.com . Captain Squeeze and the Zydeco Moshers also put on a great show, with lots of audience participation: captainsqueeze.com

There is nothing on this earth quite like following a big agricultural truck loaded full of fresh-picked garlic.

Try fresh-picked cabbage. Not quite as aromatic, but slightly more nauseating.

I've heard about horseradish but never experienced it.

I drove through Gilroy once and decided to roll the windows down. Smelled like heaven. As I've told my wife, "I like garlic but it doesn't like me". I always meant to go to "The Stinking Rose" in San Francisco where amost every item on the menu is made with garlic, including garlic ice cream.

How was Saugerties? I grew up 1/2 hour from there in Phoenicia.

Saugerties is fancy now, and so is Pheonicia. All the houses are nice and people have been building weekend McMansions. That's good in that there's more money and better shops and facilities, but the politics and flavor of the area has changed a bit.

Bill, sounds like a good time. I would have liked to have gone to that. It's right up our alley.

Best,
Steve
cavalcadewargames.com
nycjadie.wordpress.com

I've since been informed that "garlic shots" are minced garlic in water. $1 USD each from the man in the white suit…

Forgot to mention garlic vinegar.

I'm also told they do the fried pickles wrong – they cut the pickle into largish chucks before mixing with the dough and frying, but that leads to big, hot chunks that can burn the roof of your mouth. The better way is to use thin slices of pickle.

Oh, and bring cash – most vendors don't take credit card, and I never did see the rumored ATM machine.