Most of us are familiar with using garlic in daily cooking. You may chop it up for a steak marinade, or mash it into your potatoes, or spread it onto your toast.
But it's not too often that the herb is used along with candied popcorn.
That is, until Reese Ollmann and her staff decided to enter a recipe into the Fantasy Farms 2012 Chilliwack Garlic Festival Master Chef Competition and Demo.
The event was held over the weekend, with the competition on Sunday.
"The best part of this story is that Agassiz as a whole own this," said Ollmann, who owns and operates The Oasis Coffee and Bistro. In her business, they maintain a 20km menu when possible. And they decided to use that theory when creating an entry for the competition, too.
And since it was Fall Fair weekend, and the theme was hazelnuts, they knew they had work the local crop into the mix. And there was also no doubt that there had to be corn, Agassiz's pride and glory.
They decided on a Candied Garlic and Hazelnut Caramel Corn dessert, and the result was definitely a crowd favourite.
All the ingredients were donated from local businesses. The garlic came from Island 23 Farms and the hazelnuts came from Canadian Hazelnut. The popcorn came from True North Kettle Corn and the honey to candy the garlic was donated from Canadian Hazelnut, but was originally from Honeyview Farm.
And to finish off the presentation plate, they were given flowers from Sandy Lance at Holly Tree Florists and Gifts.
This was Fantasy Farm's second garlic festival, and it ran throughout the weekend at their farm on Gibson Road.
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