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Little-Known Secrets of Incredible Garlic:
Tom Sherry and Whistlepig Farm

Tom Sherry was in graduate school when he first fell in love with garlic. It happened when he saw a garlic scape, the long, thin and intricate winding end of a growing hard-necked garlic plant. Its delicate beauty and flowing symmetry caught his imagination immediately, and Tom was smitten. Through graduate school and in the years following his first encounter with the plant, Tom’s passion for garlic has only grown. Today, as the owner of Whistlepig Farm, he grows forty varieties of specialty and heirloom garlic. You might say – and he does – that Tom is a garlic freak.

The forty varieties that Tom has chosen to grow on Whistlepig Farm reflect the incredible diversity of color, form and taste that exists among varieties of this familiar herb. There are two main divisions of garlic varieties: soft-necked and hard-necked. The soft-necked varieties include the one most often found in grocery stores, what Tom calls the “Folgers coffee and Budweiser beer of garlic.” Hard-necked varieties are more difficult to grow and have a shorter shelf life than soft-necks; while a conventional soft-necked variety will last nine months to a year after harvest, the average hard-neck will only last three. This is because hard-necked varieties have fewer bulbs clustered around the neck, and a thinner wrapping, so they are much more delicate.

Many cooks and even professional chefs, used to the plain white garlic that is most often used in the US, are shocked at the beautiful patterns and colors that are found on specialty garlic. Here lies Tom’s original fascination with the plant: its incredible beauty. Tom sells garlic with wild and unexpected colors, so gorgeous that they approach the aesthetics of blooms. While walking through the rows of growing garlic, he pulls from the soil large heavy bulbs with innumerable thin purple stripes running their length; delicate porcelain bulbs tinged with faint pink edges; small, tight bulbs with darkly shimmering skin that changes from blue to purple in the sunlight; and thirty-seven others.

Heirloom crops are nearly always more difficult to grow and transport than their more generic counterparts, which partly accounts for their superior taste and also for their scarcity in modern grocery stores. They may require intense care, or be available for only a short time during the season, or they may have a drastically shorter shelf life, like Tom’s. These characteristics make heirloom and specialty crops difficult to grow on a large scale and distribute to grocery stores across the country. Because Whistlepig Farm is a small farm and because Tom is so passionate about what he grows, he is able to focus on those varieties that bring the greatest rewards in beauty and taste, even if they are the most difficult to grow (as the most “sublime” varieties commonly are). Tom uses “beyond organic” growing techniques (though his land is not certified) because he cares deeply about his land and his product. He grows garlic not just because it provides him with a niche in a competitive business, but primarily, as he says, “for the beauty of it.” When Tom is asked, is garlic his niche or his passion?, he replies, “Garlic is my niche because it’s my passion.” The passion, obviously, comes first.

The garlic of Whistlepig Farm is planted in October and harvested around the beginning of summer. Bulbs that have reached the desired size are pulled from the loose earth and trimmed under a tent on the field. They are then hung and cured, similar to tobacco, in the open air of Tom’s barn. The garlic is then kept moist in the root cellar that was built in 1917 for just this purpose.

During the market season, Tom sells his garlic (along with other heirloom produce) at the West Asheville Tailgate Market. Each week he brings one carefully selected variety of garlic to the market, and offers samples for customers to experience incredible garlic for themselves. Tom’s passion for garlic is boundless, though – so he has plans to spread it across the country through his website, www.garlicfreak.com. He has just begun selling gift boxes that contain twelve specialty and heirloom garlics, hand-selected to reflect the changing harvest through the season. They are currently available at the French Broad Food Co-op and at Laurey’s (Yum!) Catering & Gourmet to Go in Asheville, where owner and chef Laurey Masterton says they have been very successful. “They make a fantastic gift,” says Laurey, “and when you open them up and smell the garlic it’s just amazing.” Availability of the boxes is limited this year, but if sales continue to go well, Tom and Laurey both hope to be able to offer more in the future.

When Tom cooks with his garlic, he prefers to grind it, and always cooks two-thirds of it with the meal. He adds the last one-third when the meal is always done. The reason: because fresh garlic has a different flavor than cooked garlic, and Tom, the ultimate garlic freak, has found the best way to enjoy all of the flavors that garlic has to offer.

Find Whistlepig Farm online in the Local Food Guide!

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