Ted Macza’s bulbs are the stuff of legend,
Ted Maczka’s bulbs were the real stuff — the kind of garlic that makes your eyes water, sticks to your fingers and lingers on your whole body. He died three years ago. But his garlic is still growing on farms all across Canada. It’s the stuff of legend —
To obtain a bulb of Ted Maczka’s garlic requires a bit of scheming.
“Garlic is arriving today, from someone who got it from someone who got it from Ted Maczka. And I checked the provenance. I have some good stuff for you,” the voicemail message says.
Later, an email arranging the hand-off: “Say, NW corner Queen and Yonge? Please text 30 minutes prior.”
At the brief meeting, where a box is pulled from a backpack under the shade of an awning, away from prying eyes: “Do you have any questions, or do you just want the stuff?”
This stuff is legendary. That’s why we met up with local garlic enthusiast Peter McClusky to obtain a sample of so-called Fish Lake garlic. It originated with a clove plucked from the earth at Maczka’s Prince Edward County farm in 1978. Four small, purplish bulbs, wrapped in black tissue paper.
The variety was cultivated by Maczka himself and named for the body of water adjacent to the farm where he grew garlic for three decades.
Later, he grew garlic in tiny pots in his nursing home, but returned often to his land to check the crops until he died at age 83. His 2013 obituary observed the “peaceful passing of the Fish Lake Garlic Man.”
Maczka would often give bulbs away and because few people have kept track over the years, many growers or gardeners may not realize what they’ve planted. But the garlic itself lives on.
“Virtually any farmer who grows Ontario garlic had, at some point in their garlic-growing past, either met Ted, heard about Ted and possibly they grow garlic that they got from Ted, or from someone who traded, bought or borrowed from him,” says McClusky, author of Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm to Festival, which is shortlisted for a Taste Canada 2016 book award in the culinary narratives category. He also organizes the Toronto Garlic Festival, being held Sept. 18, now in its sixth year.
“Ted was the inspiration for many people to start growing Ontario garlic and to preach its virtues.”
Before he was the Fish Lake Garlic Man, Ted Maczka had many lives.
As a youth in Poland during the Second World War, he was shipped off to a labour camp in Siberia. He was in Grade 5; he never returned to school. After moving to Toronto in his twenties, he worked as a tool and die maker, importer of European foods and deli owner. At 50, he renounced everything to become a garlic grower and evangelist. He left his wife and two children back home in Toronto, moved onto 73 hectares near Demorestville, Ont., and travelled the province spreading the gospel of garlic, often wearing a ball cap with several of his pungent bulbs affixed to the top.
“He could talk about other stuff, but all roads led to garlic,” says his daughter, Barbara Campbell. Her father wasn’t always obsessed with garlic. He and his wife, Wilma, met in Toronto in the 1950s and lived on Huron St. They became relatively affluent; Maczka dabbled in organic gardening. Slowly, the grass behind the swimming pool became sunflowers and bean stalks, and Maczka became more interested in better crops and bigger yields.
Then he read a Financial Post article about the millions of dollars Canadians spent on garlic grown in China. A new life arose before him, like a garlic scape in spring.
“He thought he could develop it here and grow it here,” Campbell says. “It grew perfectly fine and that was the beginning of his fascination with this delightful bulb.”
Within a few years, “Fish Lake Garlic Man” was emblazoned on his Fish Lake Rd. mailbox, his T-shirts and the minivans he drove around the province, which had massive fibreglass garlic bulbs fixed to the roof. He played classical music for his garlic and spoke lovingly to his plants. Much of his clothing also proclaimed the healing power of garlic; he him- self consumed untold amounts of raw cloves, according to Campbell. His preferred beverage was something called Fish Lake Garlic Water — garlic with vodka poured over it. Garlic went on his porridge and on his toast. Garlic was a cure-all. His display at the Royal proclaimed garlic “the wonder food . . . the spice of your life.”
“I want to tell everyone: chew two or three cloves of garlic a day and you’ll be better,” he told the Star in 2008.
Because of its biology, garlic doesn’t change much over the seasons. Cloves are basically clones of the bulb, which means the garlic that traces its lineage to Maczka remain very similar to the strain he developed himself.
One Kingston-area farmer obtained 20 bulbs from an heirloom seed sanctuary in 2006 and now plants 20,000 cloves each year. The garlic is a “workhorse” that provides consistent yields, stores well and seems resistant to fungi, says Ian Stutt.
“The taste is strong, punchy, oily garlic that is loaded with flavour,” says Stutt, who mostly sells direct to customers. “We hear back from everyone that it’s remarkable. You don’t need a lot.”
Len Caron, a grower in Midway, B.C., just east of the Okanagan Valley, grows 75 varieties but has shipped Fish Lake garlic to gardeners clear across the country to Newfoundland, as well as Ontario and Alberta. His customers ask for it by name.
Fish Lake garlic has even spread to the U.S. The website for Utah’s Sandhill Farms describes it as “mountain hardy” with “large, easy-peeling cloves with an excellent, crunchy texture when enjoyed raw.” Farmer Pete Rasmussen told the Star he first obtained it from a grower in Washington State.
Maczka sold about 60 strains of seed garlic all across the country, says Paul Pospisil, a friend and publisher of The Garlic News. They were numbered F1through F60, though F3 was Maczka’s “pride and joy.”
Because they were sold in person and through seed catalogues, and because Maczka’s record-keeping was spotty at best, it’s difficult to say exactly who is growing Fish Lake garlic now, says Pospisil, who grows six varieties on his property in Maberly, Ont.
“His methods were a little quirky, but his aim was correct and that was to get people growing garlic,” Pospisil says.
It’s possible the fervent dedication that made Maczka famous could have stemmed from some undiagnosed mental health issues, his daughter says. He became a hoarder of fan mail from around the world, minivans and milk cartons — the latter could be used to plant garlic, he’d say — and didn’t always have a phone line or even electricity. He didn’t fix up his home after a fire but instead slapped up a coat of whitewash to cover the soot. He stored his money under his mattress and in the walls, according to his daughter.
He also embarked on a parallel crusade after the area conservation authority built a dam at the edge of his property, creating a sort of wetland and reservoir. It didn’t affect his garlic but flooded his forest, which had always been swampy, according to local councillor Kevin Gale. This prompted a years-long feud and ultimately, a deep suspicion of government. He’d steal out to the dam at night, removing logs in an act of defiance, according to both his daughter and Gale.
It’s true that Maczka was eccentric, but he loved his popularity and the attention it brought, his daughter says. And he seemingly got a kick out of his own quirks.
“I see people trying not to laugh until they pass,” Maczka told the Huntsville Forester newspaper in 2007. “I don’t mind if people laugh, that means they’re happy. If you’re happy, you’re healthy.”
Roasted Garlic Brownies
Star Tested Channel your inner Fish Lake Garlic Man by adding garlic to an unexpected recipe. Roasting the garlic is crucial in order to produce a garlic flavour that doesn’t overwhelm the chocolate in these fudgy brownies. This recipe was adapted from Chef Anne Sorrenti in Ontario Garlic: The Story from Farm to Festival.
Roasted garlic
1 garlic bulb
1 tbsp (10 mL) olive oil
Brownies
6 tbsp (60 mL) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (125 mL) semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk chocolate
3/4 cup (180 mL) sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
2 large eggs, room temperature
6 cloves roasted garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup (60 mL) all-purpose flour
For the roasted garlic, remove top of a garlic bulb so that cloves are exposed. Place on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle olive oil evenly over top. Wrap bulb in aluminum foil and place in a 350 F/180 C oven for 25 minutes or until cloves are soft. Set aside. Once cool, squeeze from skin and chop finely.
For the brownies, in a saucepan over low heat, melt butter. Add semisweet and milk chocolate, stirring until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Add sugar and vanilla, stirring until combined. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in garlic. Add flour, stir energetically for one minute, until batter is smooth and glossy, pulling away from the sides of the saucepan. Line an 8-inch brownie pan with parchment paper and pour in batter. Bake in 350 F/180 C oven for 30 minutes or until centre is set. Cool completely on a rack before cutting into squares. Makes 12 servings.
“Virtually any farmer who grows Ontario garlic had, at some point in their garlic-growing past, either met Ted, heard about Ted and possibly they grow garlic that they got from Ted.” PETER MCCLUSKY AUTHOR