Garlic
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We Love Garlic
Many varieties are hardy to our climate; maybe it’s the cold, but they sure taste good.
We grow hardnecks and softnecks. Some are hot and spicy, others mild and sweet. Of the six-hundred-plus cultivars of garlic, we’ve chosen ours based on flavour, hardiness to our northern climate, shelf life, peeling ease, and appearance.
Currently we are growing 19 cultivars of garlic, because it’s so much fun to try out new ones. Not all will be for sale each year, but we’ll try our best to get as many as possible out for sale.
Garlic Varieties and Cultivars
Hardneck Garlic
Hardneck garlic grows a stiff, central stem; it rises above the plant and curls into the scape or pigtail, which produces bulbils – seeds – that fall to the ground and start new plants. It is important to remove the pigtail before it matures so the plant’s energy goes into the bulb not the bulbils.
Hardnecks are cold-hardy and grow well in our climate.
We grow four hardneck varieties divided into fourteen cultivars.
Rocambole
This is our favourite variety; the epitome of garlic flavour. Some are sweet and some are hot, but they all have that deep, full, garlic flavour. Very versatile – eat them fresh, cooked, or roasted.
Best though, to eat them fresh from harvest, while they are at their juiciest – and if it’s early in the season, always use more than you think you should. The flavour is outstanding, not overpowering.
Our Rocambole cultivars are:
Porcelain
Porcelains are our favourite variety for roasting, but they are also a good all-around garlic. When raw, their flavour can be shockingly hot; when cooked, mild and sweet. Roasted, they have a delicious nutty flavour.
Our Porcelain cultivars are:
Marbled Purple Stripe
This variety has a solid garlic flavour: medium to hot when raw. Red Russian is a very popular cultivar in the Okanagan, but we tend to prefer Bogatyr which is an excellent keeper and maintains its flavour when cooked.
All our Marbled Purple Stripe cultivars tend to be high in allicin.
Purple Stripe
Purple Stripes are thought to be the oldest variety of garlic from which all others have evolved.
We grow one cultivar, and its flavour is excellent.
Weakly Bolting Garlic
This garlic is a type of hardneck that may or may not produce a scape. One bed of weakly bolting garlic can have plants with scapes and plants without.
They tend to mature earlier than other varieties. The two we grow are harvested well before our other varieties.
Asiatic
Asiatics can be intensely hot. They carry their flavour well through cooking, and some are delicious roasted – like Asian Tempest.
One of the first garlics to be harvested in our area, we enjoy their early season goodness.
We grow one cultivar of Asiatic:
Turban
Turban is also an early garlic that we have harvested as early as mid-June.
The one cultivar we grow has delicious flavour and is not too hot.
Softneck Garlic
Softnecks don’t grow scapes. If left to overwinter, they mostly reproduce from the cloves. Sometimes they produce bulbils in their stems, especially when exposed to extremes in weather.
They have more layers of wrappers than hardnecks, which means they are harder to peel, but also means they store a lot longer.
Generally the grocery store sells softnecks that have been imported from California or China. Due to its long shelf-life, this garlic can be 6 months old before you take it home from the store. Fresh is juicier and more flavourful; and if properly stored – see storing garlic below – can last for up to a year.
Artichoke
Artichoke is named for its appearance: several overlapping layers of cloves arranged much like an artichoke.
Many artichoke cultivars are considered mild to medium flavoured, without the heat.
We grow one artichoke cultivar:
Storing Garlic
We recommend storing garlic in a dry, dark place where the temperature stays fairly cool and consistent: 15°C (60°F) works well. Don’t keep it in the fridge; don’t store it in an airtight container. Do store garlic in paper bags, terracotta containers, woven baskets, or mesh bags.
Garlic can be stored in the freezer; it’s not the same as fresh, but still good. Leave it in the freezer until you want to use it. We freeze peeled cloves; we like to chop it, put it in ice cube trays, and top with olive oil. This way it’s ready to go straight into the frying pan.
Eat Lots of Garlic
Not only does garlic taste great, but it promotes good health and helps prevent many diseases.
When garlic is bruised, crushed, chopped, or chewed, an organosulfur compound called allicin is formed. This compound is believed to help prevent many types of cancers. Clinical trials are taking place and the results are looking good.
Research has shown that there are many benefits to eating garlic:
- Lowers lipids in the bloodstream, which promotes a healthy heart.
- Anticoagulant — it helps to keep blood from clotting.
- Antihypertensive — helps with high blood pressure.
- Anticancer: helps to reduce the risk of developing several types of cancer.
- Antioxidant — helps to prevent or slow cell damage.
- Antimicrobial — helps to kill or inhibit the growth of microorganisms making it antibacterial, antifungal, antiparasitic and antiviral.
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