Garlic Types
In recent posts on garlic I have made reference to ‘types’ of garlic. Current thinking is there are 10 garlic types or sub-types, and are as follows:
Rocambole: This is a hardneck, generally with more complex flavors than other softnecks. Storage life is less than average. Cloves are usually large and easy to peel.
Porcelain: Hardneck, normally with excellent flavor. Storage is usually a little longer than that of Rocamboles. Tightly wrapped cloves can be a little difficult to peel. Normally large bulbs and plants. Yield is sometimes below average.
Purple Stripe: This is similar to Rocambole, except for for purple coloring on the skin and cloves, as well as usually have more and smaller cloves. This type usually has a very nice flavor when cooked.
Marbled Purple Stripe: A sub-type of Purple stripe, with slightly different color patterns.
Glazed Purple Stripe: A sub-type of Purple stripe, with slightly different color patterns.
Artichoke: Artichokes are probably the most common softneck garlic. The plants often form bulbils, but not usually in a scape on top, but rather on the bottom of the stem or on top of the bulb. Under some growing conditions, these plants can produce a hardneck. Usually milder flavor, and often better tasting raw.
Asiatic: This type is very closely related to Artichoke, and is usually considered a sub-type. This type of garlic often has a striped skin. Bulbs often open in the ground before harvest. This type forms a long scape.
Asiatic Turban: This is a sub-type of Asiatic, often with a very short storage life.
Silverskin: This type is one of the most productive with the longest storage life, making it a very common commercial variety. Often the taste is below average.
Creole: This is a sub-type of Silverskin, often with red bulbs. This is a warm climate garlic, that normally does poorly when grown far from the equator.
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13 Responses to “Garlic Types”
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Patrick. You’re a busy man – always posting interesting stuff. Thanks for this useful explanation of’sub-types’. I’m not a regular garlic grower but I like it occasionally with some food. It is supposed to be health-giving. However, I seem to remember being informed by a celeb’ chef on TV that we should not eat the embrio shoot in the clove as this part of the veg’ is not good for us. Therefore, it should be removed before use. What is your view on this?
Thanks. Dave.
Hi Dave, I usually find by the time garlic is sprouting it’s probably a little old to be eating anyway. I would usually at least cut off the green end, even if I didn’t cut open the clove and go after all the green bits. It all comes down to how desperate I was for some garlic flavor and how old it was.
Even though the green sprout may or may not taste good, I can’t think of any reason why it would be bad for you and I’ve never heard this before. Does anyone else have any information on this?
Mostly I find supermarket garlic has a very short storage life compared with what I grow in my garden. Between growing a few varieties with long storage lives, and eating garlic greens and spring garlic, I find I can eat pretty fresh garlic almost all year round.
When I see comments about the little bit of green, which is the new scape emerging I’m a bit puzzled. Isn’t this really an immature form of the green garlic that is no popular with foodies these days? I tend not remove it unless my clove is soft and pithy and basically past for cooking.
Hi, thanks for stopping by!
I think you are confusing the scape with the green sprout that normally appears on old garlic cloves. The sprout that appears on old garlic cloves is no delicacy, and I’m with you, I remove and discard it.
The scape looks like this:
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?p=152
It appears on plants of some types of garlic after they have been in the ground for several months, about one month before harvest. They are a sort of seed stalk. They taste a lot like garlicky green beans, and are popular among foodies.
Maybe your glazed purple stripe garlic was left in the ground a little too long. My experience is that the cloves start to separate and the paper gets thin if I don’t get them out of the ground soon enough.
Hi Garlic Gal,
Thanks for the comment!
I’m sure leaving it in the ground too long was part of it. It was the first year I tried growing it, and the company I bought it from must have grown it in a different climate because it just didn’t do very well in my garden. I think this also had something to do with it.
Anyway, there’s always next year!
[...] Estonian Red is as usual a big garlic with few big cloves. The garlic is heavy, as the few big cloves makes it compact. If you eat a lot of garlic, there is no better garlic to grow in Denmark. The huge cloves are easy to peel, taste is strong and it keep very long time in storage. I know some have been eating it from their own harvest as late as early june. It is mentioned in Heirloom Vegetable Archive. Pictures (and danish text) can be seen in Karna Majs diary. Estonian red is a hardneck, a Marbled Purple Stripe variety. Bifurcated Carrots garlic types. [...]
hello everybody,i heard that there akind of garlic which is curing cancer totally,do any one have any information about it?and where i can get it ?
why does garlic go green during the storage
Hi Jim,
It turns green as it starts to grow.
I think you are in Turkey, and so are in the northern hemisphere. If so, garlic is normally harvested in July or August and keeps for 6-8 months. This means unless you get garlic imported from some place like Argentina in the southern hemisphere, it’s going to be very difficult to find good garlic in the spring.
If you grow your own garlic, it usually keeps longer.
If you keep your garlic in a place where it can get a lot of air, like an open shelf in your kitchen, it will keep a lot longer than if you store it in a closed jar.
I hope this answers your question!
what is a type of onion and garlic cross ?
Hi Michael,
Onions and garlic are different species of Alliums, which don’t normally cross. I’m not aware of any crosses commonly available.
Are you thinking of elephant garlic? This is a type of leek that’s grown and eaten like garlic.
[...] started today harvesting my first few garlics. The Asiatic Turban and Creole types always need to be harvested a little earlier that the others, so I started with these. Even [...]