Want a snog? Eat some of this garlic first (From Worcester News)

Want a snog? Eat some of this garlic first

10:21am Tuesday 7th August 2007 in Country News latest

HAVE you ever had a crush on someone but couldn't find an excuse to give them a kiss?

Well, the Snoggable Garlic Company can offer you a great reason to pucker-up to test out their claim of garlic without the garlic breath.

Belinda Welsman has perfected a secret recipe which means that the garlic tastes like garlic - but without the smell.

So, in a bid to do some research, you eat one of the snoggable cloves of garlic then find that special someone for a quick snog to see if it works.

Belinda says: "You can each as much as you like and go and snog anybody I've done lots and lots of market research - especially if I fancy them!"

The Snoggable Garlic Company makes a variety of different flavoured garlics, from the mild to the hot. There's lemon, lime ginger and thyme garlic, sun-dried tomato garlic, basil and lemon garlic, and the unusually named Snoggable paprika, eye of toad and wing of bat. Apparently the ingredients of that are a trade secret.

Around Christmas time there is also a seasonal speciality called mulled garlic, which includes cinnamon, cranberries, cloves and orange.

"The garlic is great for adding to salads, stuffing, roast vegetables and nicking into the skin of meat prior to cooking. But most people eat it like sweets. They have a bowl of it in the fridge and help themselves whenever they are passing.

"It is also brilliant for breaking the ice at dinner parties and an always be an excuse for a quick snog!"

Belinda always has samples lined up on her market stalls for people to try.

"I don't have to sell the garlic, my customers do. While they are buying their supplies they tell other customers that they should try some!" says Belinda.

Belinda sells her range of garlic and olives at farmers' markets all over Worcestershire and beyond.

"The garlic is so successful, it's going crazy. I never thought that I could get the Brits to enjoy garlic so much. As well as the farmers' markets' I'm selling the garlic wholesale as well as supplying delicatessens all over the country."

Belinda, aged 49, started her own company selling herbs five years ago after the company she was working for closed down.

As the herbs were seasonal, she began selling olives and garlic too.

"I had tried lots of different garlic abroad and I played around with the garlic until I got it right. The process takes between two and four months and the process itself is a secret.

"People get completely addicted to my garlic. I sell it loose, in jars and now in buckets. I have a website and I'm getting orders from all over the place.

"The company is currently run from a workshop at Bobbington in South Staffordshire. We're moving to new larger premises a few miles away in Shropshire so we can keep up with demand."

Belinda has had interest in her Snoggable Garlic from two supermarket chains, but she thinks it's important to remain a small supplier, supplying farmers' markets and delicatessens.

The Snoggable Garlic Company visit farmers' markets at Royal Worcester Porcelain, Droitwich and Malvern each month. Visit www.snoggablegarlic.com.