Moravia

In July, I travelled with my wife Jenny to Buchlovice, Moravia where I was honoured to open their annual Garlic Festival. It was exciting and fascinating to be with thousands of Czech people dedicated to their own garlic heritage. A beautiful event demonstrating garlic's place in their rich culture. Folk dancers, music, garlic growers presenting their crops and even a garlic anthem. This is garlic at the centre of folk tradition.

True Garlic Seed

It is an exciting prospect to think that we are making connections across the world of garlic. This was made even more apparent in my trip to Israel in June where agricultural scientists are working to create true garlic seed. This is taking garlic back to a point in time 10000 years ago when garlic in its wild state produced a flower and fertile seed. All current cultivated garlic varieties have lost the natural ability to produce true seed so this scientific development has huge implications for retrieving the genetic diversity of garlic.