Eastern Ontario Garlic Awards Crowns New 2017 Champion

Craig Bakay | Sep 06, 2017

The 2017 champion of the 21st annual Eastern Ontario Garlic Awards is Dorothy Oogarah of Wagar Oogarah Farm near Centreville. The reserve champion (2nd) was Catherine Cheff of Cheff Fields Garlic and Alpaca Farm near Renfrew and honourable mention (3rd) went to Ali Gangneir Ross of Swallowtail Farms near Perth.
Oogarah operates the Wagar family farm with her husband Viren and son Jeffe. The farm has been in her family (Wagar) since 1820 and although they’ve only been into garlic for about the last four years, they’ve gone into it in a rather big way.

“We had 3,600 plants this year,” she said. “For all of July, I’m busy digging.”
This was her third year entering in the awards and she said she’ll be back to defend her title.
“We’re really partial to Creole Rose de l’autrec garlic,” she said. “It’s really good and flavourful.
“Next would be Rocambole but you can’t store it for a year like Creole Rose.”