Don Christopher, a California farmer who turned the humble bulb of garlic into a staple in millions of American homes and elevated the sleepy town of Gilroy into the garlic capital of the world, died on December 12th. He passed away at the age of88.
Ken Christopher, the executive vice president of Christopher Ranch, confirmed his grandfather's death.
For a long time in the 20th century garlic was considered an exotic ingredient. It was sometimes found in Italian restaurants and sometimes in vampire-hunting kits, but it wasn't usually found in the home kitchen.
A lot of people used to think that the poor only ate garlic.
The country's demographic changed in the 70s as Asian and Latin American immigrants arrived. As health-conscious eaters became more aware of the risks of salt, they turned to garlic as a substitute.
Mr. Christopher was the perfect garlic booster. He believed in it so much that he used to call it a superfood. It is not clear who first called him the garlic king.
He used an heirloom variety of garlic and Christopher Ranch still uses seeds from its first planting. The Fresh Garlic Producers Association was founded by him and several of his neighbors in 1978.
The first garlic farm in the area was far away. The town, about 80 miles south of San Francisco, was already renowned for its pungent bounty, so much so that the comedian Will Rogers once said, "the only town I know where you canMarinate a Steak by Hanging it on the clothesline."
Mr. Christopher and his friends thought they'd get a few thousand people to the festival. It attracted more than 100,000 people within a few years, who ate garlic bread and drank garlic wine. They watched the contestants cook and posed for pictures with the festival mascot.
The success of the festival reflected the boom in sales across the country. America produced more garlic from 1975 to 1994 than any other time in history.
Mr. Christopher told Linda and Fred that garlic has become fun. There are garlic festivals all over the place. All those health considerations are included. It's in the news all the time.
Donald Christopher was born into a family of farmers. His paternal grandfather, Ole Christopher, was a Danes who came to the city to raise plums. Don and his father, Art, worked together. His mom was a homemaker.
Along with his grandson Ken, Mr. Christopher is survived by his wife, Karen Christopher, his brother, Art, his sons, Robert and Bill, his step children, and eight other grandchildren.
Don wanted to be a farmer like his father, but he didn't like what he saw. He wanted his own land, but it was already being suburbanized. After studying business administration for a while at San Jose State University, he and his brother moved south to buy Christopher Ranch's first acres. They planted 10 acres of garlic.
The man who sold them the land told Mr. Christopher that he was glad someone was interested in farming.
The Christopher Ranch planted thousands of acres of garlic in the east and west of the country in the 1990s. Mr. Christopher built his family farm into a business that processed millions of pounds a year.
Mr. Christopher branched into all sorts of garlic packaging.
Cheap imports from China undermined sales at Christopher Ranch and the garlic industry as a whole in the 90s. 45 million pounds is how much the company's output was reduced to.
The hedge was to package 10 percent of his garlic into low-cost, off- brand products. Christopher Ranch started to boost its brand as American-grown heirloom produce.
A segment of the documentary series "Rotten" about "big garlic" with Christopher Ranch at the center brought negative attention to the company. The company was accused of buying produce from a Chinese company.
Christopher Ranch was considering a lawsuit. There was no evidence to back up the charges.
Three people were killed and 17 were wounded in a shooting at a garlic festival in 2019. Several families sued the festival, and the city raised its insurance requirements, leading to the cancellation of the event for the foreseeable future.
The business was left in the hands of Mr. Christopher's sons and grandson.
He didn't need to think about its future. According to Ken Christopher, the company expects to sell more than one billion bulbs.
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