Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry host to The Garlic Show cooking class

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Garlic ice cream?

It culminated “The Garlic Show,” a free outdoor cooking class Saturday evening was presented by Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora.

Elburn garlic farmer Sharon Pferschy displays a garlic bulb at an outdoor cooking class Saturday, Aug. 12 by Marie Wilkinson Food Pantry in Aurora. Background is husband Tony Pferschy. Al Benson/The Voice

Sharon and Anthony “Tony” Pferschy, co-owners of Garlic Breath Farm in Elburn, led the 90-minute demonstration in the pantry’s urban farm at 835 N. Highland Ave. The event was free to the public in a cooking-class series sponsored by the pantry.

Samples offered to attendees included a commercial Vegan ice cream laced with garlic topping, garlic toast, garlic pasta and a lettuce salad.

“We weren’t farmers,” Sharon Pferschy recalled about how the couple launched their 80-acre farm. “We didn’t know what we were doing.”

Other discussion topics included garlic varieties, growing practices and garlic health benefits. The couple distributed recipes for roasted and raw garlic.

Diane Renner, pantry executive director, added “Tony and Sharon’s mission is to make healthy food available to veterans. They give a huge supply of the best local garlic to Marie’s Pantry every year.” Tony, a Navy veteran, is a member of the Farmer Veterans Coalition.

Assisting the Pferschys were Rebecca Axtell, pantry communications manager and Rob Vaughn, manager of the pantry’s urban farm, Charity Blooms.

—Al Benson

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