Persian pickled garlic has a delicious mild garlic flavour, tastes a little bit like a mild pickled onion, and is low odour. It can be eaten straight out of the jar and goes really well with cheese and crackers, and beer of course. Its vinegar makes an easy salad dressing with olive oil. The pickled garlic has garnered quite a strong following up and down the East
Coast, and is also apparently wonderful at preventing colds, and for general health.
Garlic has been used worldwide since ancient times as a food flavouring and in traditional healing, most likely spreading from Central Asia to Ancient Egypt and beyond. Persia (modern-day Iran) is the ancient home of garlic, according to Darrell Tully, who formed a strong connection to the food when his Persian friend began selling pickled garlic in the Brisbane markets circa 1999.
Soon she was distributing Persian pickled garlic all over Queensland and Darrell joined her in 2002. ‘Eventually,’ he says, ‘I took 200 boxes of her garlic to Sydney and sold the lot. I gave tastings in markets from Byron to Tweed Heads and placed my brand Teska in butcher shops along the way.’
‘I ran out of stock in 2017,’ says Darrell, ‘but my old customers on the Northern Rivers keep asking for more. Now I am only placing the best of Persia strategically in a few outlets between Ballina and Tweed Heads to serve my customers.’
‘It complements fish and chips. The vinegar is just superb. A tip I got from a customer was to dice it with fresh tomato and spread it on toast for breakfast’.
‘Take two cloves daily, to prevent colds and for general health. It is natural garlic preserved in vinegar and salt. It beats garlic tablets. It really has a delicious mild garlic flavour and is low odour.’
And Darrell has a word of advice for home garlic picklers. ‘Don’t try pickling fresh garlic, it is not the same and it takes lots of time to do.’
For more info on where to get it go to persianpickledgarlic.com.au or call Darrell on 0414 659 063.
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