Healthful preservation of garlic earns awards

Monday, June 2, 2008

By GEOFF DALE

In April, the bulbous herb which David and Lynn Freeman grow on up to 40 acres of their Meaford-area property helped the couple to garner the $50,000 Minister’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation for 2008 and a $5,000 regional award.

Their groundbreaking work with freeze-dried garlic is what’s stirring the interest.

Over the years they have grown the crop, the couple have been seeking an answer as to how best to capture allicin – the key ingredient reportedly responsible for a broad spectrum of anti-bacterial activity in garlic.

Six years of research done in partnership with the University of Guelph offered the answer: freeze-drying.

Buoyed by findings showing their garlic produced the highest level of allicin content the university had seen in more than 20 years, the Freemans developed a state-of-the-art certified processing plant designed to obtain high quality freeze-dried garlic for nutraceutical uses.

The 40 by 80 foot plant is located on the Freeman farm and cost $1.5-million, David said. “My brother is an investor and we obtained the remainder by mortgaging our farm.” It is capable of processing 60 acres of garlic and there’s room to add another freeze dryer, which add enough capacity to process another 100 acres.

The process involves chopping up the garlic, putting it on trays that are then sent through a freeze tunnel. “There is virtually no waiting time so we get a product that provides optimal results,” David said.

While the plant meets standards for processing pharmaceuticals for humans, the focus to date has been on serving the horse industry.

David said research being done by University of Guelph equine researchers suggest garlic is a natural antibiotic that is more effective in treating heaves (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) in stabled horses than penicillin, particularly when dealing with muscle and stamina problems.

He also pointed to promising research suggesting garlic’s potential uses for treating horses with West Nile Virus.

“I take garlic all the time, so I practice what I preach,” he added. “Everything is done organically because we want to do the right thing for the land and us. Eventually we all eat what we plant and whatever we use in the ground ends up in our bodies.”

With several companies already expressing interest in the process, the Freemans are gearing up for an end of June opening. Garlic scapes (green shoots growing from developing bulbs) will be processed during the first month of operation.

The family also has plans to prep more acreage for garlic – a process taking two years to complete.

Currently their garlic venture employs 32 people – 25 are located in the field and another seven in the factory.

This year’s Premier’s Award of $100,000 went to Norfolk County’s Bill and Caroline Nightingale for pioneering the use of high tunnels over vegetable field crops.

Along with two provincial awards, the awards program this year delivered 55 regional awards. According to provincial news releases, the awards recognize “innovators who contribute to the success of Ontario’s agri-food sector. BF