 |
|
On Tuesday, July 24, 2018, we began a newsletter series on garlic which will span 8 newsletters in total, and by the end of this series you will have learned all you ever wanted to know (and then some) about garlic. For those of you who are about to click on the Unsubscribe Button, please don’t! The reason we are dedicating so much writing to garlic is that it can be grown almost anywhere in the US, it is easy, dependable and fascinating to grow, and it is one of the healthiest vegetables you can consume. In grocery stores and health food markets, you can only find a few different kinds of garlic, so it is best to grow your own.
The Porcelain and Turban horticultural groups of garlic were basically unknown in the US until very recently. They are both very distinctive, but for different reasons. They are both hardneck varieties, so it is essential to plant them in the fall.
The Porcelains can best be described with one word – impressive. The plants are huge, with incredibly thick stems up to 1 inch in diameter and statuesque. They can reach a height of 7 feet, but mine never have. My Porcelains are usually about 3 feet tall. You should probably leave more distance between these plants – 9 inches between cloves and 2 feet between rows.
Without a doubt, though, the most impressive characteristic of the Porcelains is their bulb size and their clove size. Bulbs can be nearly the size of a baseball, and the cloves can be the size of small eggs. They are simply gigantic. The bulbs wrappers are glistening white, hence the name ‘Porcelain’ and the clove wrappers vary from glistening white to buff with pink blushes.
Porcelains are the largest garlics under cultivation today. They also produce the highest yields of allicin, the compound credited with giving garlic its highly nutritional benefits. Each bulb usually has 3 to 6 cloves in a single layer. Because the bulbs produce so few cloves, they are very expensive to produce commercially which is why you will rarely see them at the grocery store or the farm stand. Their flavor can be strong when raw but becomes quite subtle when cooked. For a hardneck, this garlic type stores quite well, usually lasting 4-6 months.
Porcelains are among the most cold hardy of the garlic groups, but they, surprisingly, can tolerate warmer climates as well. During their spring growing season, they must have good moisture or their size will be significantly compromised.
Polish Hardneck (pictured above) came originally from an Ontario garlic grower, John Yovanov, but was collected by Rick Bangert of Idaho. The flavor is among the best of the Porcelains and the plants and bulbs and cloves can be huge. Polish Hardneck is also an excellent storer, |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Georgian Crystal is a magnificent garlic. It consistently produces gigantic bulbs with 4-5 enormous cloves. The flavor is mild, but pleasant especially when eaten raw. It was collected in 1985 at Cichisdzhvari in the intermountain region of the central Republic of Georgia. |
 |
|
|
Don’t miss out on Garlic Bulbs. Buy now!
|
| This rare Porcelain comes from the personal collection of Boris Andrst, a devoted garlic grower who has built an extraordinary collection of Czech garlics. It has been made commercially available by Filaree Farm. Kyjev is a typical Porcelain producing huge plants, huge bulbs and huge cloves. The flavor is good, and the plants are very dependable producers. |
 |
|
|
|
|
Romanian Red was probably the first Porcelain introduced into North America. It comes from Romania by way of British Columbia. It is the example by which all Porcelains should be judged. When raw, this garlic is very hot. When cooked the flavor is excellent, but not too hot. Romanian Red produces the most allicin of all the Porcelains, and many experienced Porcelain garlic growers have observed that it is the most disease resistant of the Porcelain garlic cultivars.
Turbans are as different from Porcelains as 2 plants from the same family could be. Turbans are so named because of the shape of their flower head which forms at the end of the ‘scape’ they produce. The flower head is shaped like a turban. Unlike the huge, sturdy, vigorous Porcelains, the Turban plants do not look very robust. The stems are short, and the leaves are spaced far apart giving the plant a straggly appearance. It is not unusual for the stems to bend at the soil level and topple over as harvest time approaches.
The word best associated with Turbans is earliest. These garlics should be the first to be harvested, sometimes 3-4 weeks before the other garlics. Harvesting should take place as soon as the top two leaves begin to turn. They also have the shortest storage capability, but they are the first to sprout in the spring. Just as last year’s garlic harvest is being depleted, the Turbans arrive to quench your appetite for fresh garlic.
The Turbans are often quite beautiful with bulb wrappers heavily streaked with purple. The cloves (8-12 per bulb) are wrapped in buff colored or burgundy colored wrappers.
Turbans like Porcelains are quite cold hardy, but also do well in warmer climates. Their flavor is quite hot when raw, but the heat is lost when the garlic is cooked. |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Chinese Purple is best known for growing well in warm southern climates. It produces large bulbs with 6-8 cloves arranged in one layer. Raw, this garlic is quite hot, but it loses that heat when cooked. Unlike most Turbans, Chinese Purple is a fairly good storer, and I have had it last up to 6 months. This garlic ripens very early, so keep an eye on it. |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Xian is a Chinese garlic purchased at the Northwestern Polytechnic University in Xi’an, China some time during the late 1980s or early 1990s. It was made available to the public by the Seed Savers Exchange in 1999. When eaten raw, the flavor is very hot, but some of this heat is lost with cooking. Like most Turbans, it does not store well. |
 |
|
|
|
|
| Don’t miss the Saturday, August 4, 2018 newsletter! This is the newsletter where we will be discussing and explaining why garlic is so healthy for you to consume. We will also be discussing the garlic varieties that are best for climates with warm winters. Of all the garlic newsletters, this is the one you should not miss. All of the garlic varieties discussed in this newsletter are available on our website. We sell out of garlic quickly, so if you are thinking about ordering, please do it soon. |
 |
|
For our customers in New Jersey, New York, Delaware, Maryland and Connecticut, Harvesting History will have a booth at the New Jersey State Fair and Sussex County Horse Show from August 2- August 12. Come visit us and see what a real old fashion state fair is really like. This is a truly wonderful state fair.
|
|
Celebrate your uniquely American horticultural heritage
Harvest Your History
Seed Your Future
https://www.harvesting-history.com
FREE SHIPPING
on orders $50 and above
Follow us on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/harvestinghistory
|
 |
|
