Garlic cotton candy? Try it and other unusual fare at the Washington State Garlic Fest

Chehalis' annual Garlic Fest, happening this weekend, is now the Washington State Garlic Fest.

“We thought adding ‘Washington State’ to the name would be fun, and we’re hoping to grow it into a bigger event,” said event manager Tamara Hayes of the Southwest Washington Fairgrounds.

The festival, getting a grand rebranding on its 22nd anniversary, celebrates the stinking rose with three days of music, kids’ activities including a train ride, and, of course, lots and lots of garlic-flavored food.

“That’s the star of the show,” Hayes said. “As with any food festival, people like to try ways of incorporating a type of food into everything.”

The Chehalis festival is not Washington’s only celebration of the smelly root vegetable, but it is the state's largest, Hayes told The Olympian.

“The only other one we know of in the state is the Northwest Garlic Festival in Ocean Park,” she said. “That is smaller.”

Washington ranks fourth nationally in garlic production, according to a 2001 report by the Integrated Pest Management Database, which keeps tabs on such matters.

The Washington State Garlic Festival’s own website admits that California — home of the famed Gilroy Garlic Festival — is the tops in the nation, and that most of the world’s garlic is grown in China.

However, there is plenty of garlic growing in Chehalis and environs. This weekend’s festival features eight Washington growers, with six coming from Lewis County.

Among them, the growers will be offering 65 kinds of garlic for purchase, including Armenian garlic, prized for its size and earthy flavor, and Penasco blue garlic, a mild heritage variety.

Black garlic will be available, too, but it’s not a type of garlic. Rather, it’s a preparation, which involves aging bulbs at low heat and high humidity to caramelize them, creating what vendor Columbia Black Garlic calls a “dark, mellow, sweet and squishy flavor bomb.”

Also for sale at the festival are crafts and other merchandise, much of it — olive oil, garlic oil, seasonings — meant to appeal to foodies and cooks.

But it’s the garlic-enhanced prepared foods that attract the most attention. In fact, this year, the festival is offering a three-day pass in hopes of luring garlic groupies to indulge in more bad-breath-inducing meals.

Savory selections include garlic burgers, garlic dogs, garlic jambalaya, garlic corn on the cob and garlic macaroni and cheese.

Among the offbeat offerings are garlic ice cream, garlic kettle corn, elephant ears spread with garlic, and even chocolate brownies with garlic, which Hayes deemed “yummy.”

“If you do a light flavoring of garlic, it’s a little bit unusual, but it’s delicious,” she said. “You might not want to take it home as your brownie recipe to use from here on out, but it’s great to try it at the Garlic Fest.”

Oh, and one of the new items is garlic cotton candy. “I’m excited to try that,” she said. “You’ve got to love garlic for the Garlic Fest.”

She clearly does, but people who don’t — the ones analogous to the designated drivers at a brew festival — need not go hungry.

“All of the food vendors have to carry at least one item that is garlic related,” she said, “but they all definitely have items without garlic.”

This story was originally published August 22, 2018 at 5:57 AM.