Have some garlic with your garlic

SHAWNEE — The Pocono Garlic Festival was so big this year they had to make it a two-day event last weekend at Shawnee Mountain Ski Area. The festival featured local garlic growers, food vendors, crafters, entertainment, and of course, garlic. This is the 13th annual Pocono Garlic Festival, but it was the first time it was held at Shawnee Mountain. Among the several garlic growers were Fairman Farm, Josie Porter Farm, Burdick Creek Gardens, Rolling Hills Farm and Mountaindale Farm. So many uses: there were garlic braids, garlic vinegar, garlic dipping sauce, garlic/hot pepper jelly, garlic popcorn and our favorite, crumbled garlic chocolate pretzel atop vanilla ice-cream. Locally grown garlic is naturally grown. The pride in the quality of our local growers was refreshing to see and many of them are delighted that Wegmans Food Markets is now removing Chinese garlic from its shelves. Wendy and Rich Seymour, owners of Burdick Creek Gardens in Dimock, have a wide variety of garlic and produce a little brochure to educate their customers. Among the Porcelain varieties, they carry German White, and Music (so good it will make you sing) while German Red and Spanish Raja are among their Rocambole varieties of hardneck garlic. They sell vinegar with garlic and basil, garlic and dill, garlic and peppercorn, and garlic, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. There were lots of places to sit down and eat interesting food from the food vendors who offered chili, garlic and basil wrap with pork loin, Texas smoke barbecue, shish kabob and humus, and the ever-present kielbasa. The festival was a great way to celebrate the Labor Day weekend for the last gasp of summer. For more about locally grown garlic, visit the festival Web site www.poconogarlic.com or call the Pocono Garlic Growers Association at 610-381-3303.