24 www.eatdrink.ca spotliGht The concept of terroir has long been used for wine and is now often applied to other types of agriproducts. But garlic? This ancient plant is used in virtually every culture to add flavour to food and is valued for its medicinal qualities, for sure, but applying the same principles of climate, soil and topography as fine wines to this humble bulb? Really? Jackie Rowe does just that. Her enterprise, The Garlic Box, has gone from being a two-person operation with minimal sales to employing twelve staffers and grossing a million dollars a year. Rowe is stunned by the growth, but as a garlic fan herself, she isn't surprised by the popularity of Ontario garlic. "The soil, the air, the climate here all mean that we have the best-tasting garlic," says Rowe, reflecting on the concept of terroir as it applies to her products. Based in Hensall, The Garlic Box takes the produce of twelve acres - 50,000 pounds of garlic - from a local farmer and turns it into forty products sold across Canada in over a thousand retail outlets. From salad dressings and seasonings to splashes (to enhance meat, poultry, vegetables and salads) and bread dips, Rowe wholesales nationally and internationally, and sells via internet to the U.S. and Britain. The Garlic Box came from another enterprise that Jackie and her husband Jim were part of thirteen years ago. "Jim planted an acre of garlic with some partners," she explains. That garlic was replanted and one acre turned into seven, leading to a co-op for developing and promoting Ontario garlic. "The Garlic Box was developed as the marketing branch of that enterprise," says Jackie. She would take the bulbs not perfect enough for selling on their own and experiment with them. An interior designer by profession but an avid cook by choice, Rowe started developing innovative products featuring Ontario garlic. When the garlic market took a dive in 2000 with catastrophic crop loss and a bad agri- issue no. 24 August/september 2010
Ontario Garlic Finds a Growing Market
Jackie Rowe and
The Garlic Box,
in Hensall
By Jill Ellis-Worthington Jackie Rowe economy, the co-op failed. Jackie pulled The Garlic Box out of the ashes and built it into the thriving business of today. She came up with the intriguing name, as well. Packing the freshly picked bulbs into wooden boxes usually meant for shipping apples, Rowe took her inspiration from these useful containers. Ontario garlic is a hard-neck variety called Music garlic, named for Al Music, a former tobacco farmer who started growing it in the mid-1980s. It is planted in October and harvested in early to mid-July, depending on the spring weather. After drying, the year's fresh crop is usually available in August. A garlic jelly was one of Rowe's first products on the market. "I took it to a street fair in St. Mary's and [sold $300 worth] that day. That was the beginning," she says, smiling. A savvy local retailer spotted Rowe's products at an early debut in Stratford. Jill Wilcox of Jill's Table is a nationally syndicated columnist and author of three cookbooks,
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