GARLIC: Garlic has been known since the fifth century BC, and has been in widespread use in France since the fourteenth century. It is right at home in southern France and in the cooking there. And – it must be said – it was during the highly refined eighteenth century (especially culinary-wise) that the aïoli was invented. In the Vaucluse (second-largest green-garlic-producing department in France), production is concentrated in 14 districts from Orange to Avignon, with Piolenc for capital. Two types of garlic are grown there: white garlic, which is the most common type, and red garlic (the color of its envelope ranges from violet to copper). The names are Germidor, Jolimont, and Sprint, among others. You plant garlic starting in August and through October, depending on the type of harvest you want; then you wait for it all winter. The first harvesting takes place in May, for green, or early, garlic that isn’t completely ripe. This garlic needs to be used up rapidly, and it has a very strong taste. Semi-dry garlic is harvested in June, and left a few days in the field on the ground to dry. It is sold on long stalks in July. The dry garlic, called keeping or preserve garlic, is also harvested in June when completely ripe. In the Vaucluse, garlic is still dried traditionally, and not in drying ovens.…