About Us
What makes Beneli Farms Ice® Garlic unique?
Our Ice® Garlic is fresh grown in Blumenort, Manitoba (yes, you may need to look at a map even if you live in Manitoba!). We grow it in two big gardens right on our family's fifth generation century farm. We’ve been growing and breeding garlic here for over almost 15 years.
We are a family-run business consisting of us, our two boys Benjamin and Elijah (hence the name BEN ELI) and both sets of parents that help with planting and harvesting.
We eat our own garlic! This may sound strange but to many this is an important component. We are very concerned with what we feed our children and want to make sure our garlic is in its purest form possible. We believe in sustainable agriculture which includes crop rotation and choosing to not use harsh chemicals.
All of our garlic is hand planted, hand weeded, and hand harvested. We believe a quality product should be given the utmost care and, as a result, we believe it is a better product free from damage or bruising.
All of our garlic varieties are pesticide and herbicide free. We use mainly organic fertilizer, something that is in abundance when growing garlic on a farm!
We do not bleach or fumigate our garlic or use any of the growth enhancements that are sometimes present in commercial garlic. You will not see perfectly white wrappers all the way through. Instead you will see garlic in its glorious unaltered natural form boasting beautiful shades of purple, red, and brown.
Our garlic can be used as culinary garlic, enhancing the most delectable dishes, as well as seed garlic grown in your own backyard! If you intend on planting, let us know and we’ll send you our growing guide including a few of the tips we have learned along the way.
We grow and breed heirloom garlic. Our garlic has roots going back 1000’s of years ago. What makes our garlic unique is that through careful breeding, utilizing our own techniques, we have developed our own garlic varieties that have incredible flavour and can thrive even with COLD Manitoba winters. This means our Ice® Garlic packs far more flavour than other garlic grown in warmer climates.
As a result of the breeding and the selective pressure of Manitoba's cold growing conditions, Ice® Garlic has large amounts of Allicin, a natural "plant anti freeze" that is the herbal factor that provides so many health benefits and is bursting with old fashioned garlic flavour.
Beneli Farms Ice® Garlic is specially bred to thrive in cold conditions and makes wonderful seed. The heads have been carefully cured and can be planted anytime now until the snow starts. Ice® Garlic grows through snow and the root system actually keeps growing through the winter ahead of the ground frost. This results in a developed root system come spring when the plant can immediately focus on bulb development.