Garlic WorldThere are so many things that bring people together at Garlic World. Some are driving by Gilroy on Highway 101 and stop at this big garlic shack out of curiosity. Others stop as a regular shopping spot on the way to visit relatives. I lived in Gilroy for 20 years and stopped for the first time on my way home from Chico, where I attend Chico State University. Garlic World is not only a shop that has a wall-to-wall garlic items, it is also the home of the longest garlic braid in the world, 217 feet. On the day I stopped in and an older Italian man from Pennsylvania was at the counter mailing a box of garlic to his son. "My grandchildren love the garlic as much as we do. We put garlic on everything," said Rocco Impertrice Jr. Rocco and his wife traveled across the United States from Broomall and finally made it to Gilroy to buy his son garlic. "My son told me to make sure and stop here. The last time my son was here he bought us garlic and mailed it to us, so now we are mailing this garlic to him," Rocco said. "It's gonna be $6.95 to mail it from here is that OK?" said Connie Blundo from behind the counter. "Yeah that's fine, what ever it is," Rocco said. Blundo was born in Gilroy and has lived here for the last 58 years. "I was raised in that garlic aroma," she said. While working at Garlic World she gets to hear many garlic stories and recipes. And Rocco didn't leave without sharing one of his own. Rocco's Artichokes with Garlic and Cheese Cook the artichokes.
Rocco said that this is a pretty time consuming
process, so it is easier when there are fewer to cook for. His wife always
asks him to make them when they a lot of guests, and of course he prepares
them, but he said it is a lot of work.
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