Largest and Best Tasting Garlic
The 2018 Garlic Harvest:
|
 |
Buy Now for Fall Planting! |
| Harvesting History spends a lot of time with our customers sharing stories with them at Harvest Festivals and Flower Shows, horticulture lectures, answering questions from emails and other social media platforms and speaking with many on the phone. At this time of year, we are usually sharing with them the best of the annual garlic harvest. In the past, we have only shared this information in one-on-one situations, so our friends and customers who live far away or who do not attend functions where we exhibit were never privy to this information. This year we have decided to write a brief newsletter commenting on what we have seen and tasted now that the 2018 garlic has been harvested and cured. We can now share what we have seen and tasted with everyone. The 2018 garlic harvest can be described with one word FANTASTIC! Some of the old, trusted varieties produced the largest cloves we have ever seen. Other varieties were the hottest we have ever tasted and still others had the richest flavor. |
 |
Don’t Miss out on Garlic – Buy Now! |
| Several garlic varieties produced the largest cloves we have ever seen. The photo above is of Red Toch. To give you some idea of the size of the Red Toch bulb, we placed a typical grocery store garlic next to it. Can you believe the size? This year, Red Toch is larger than Inchelium Red, the garlic variety that usually produces the biggest garlic bulbs. Garlic that produces large cloves is a cook’s dream, because the fewer garlic cloves we have to peel and chop, the easier our cooking job is. |
 |
Buy Now for Fall Planting! |
| Mild French is a lovely medium sized garlic. As we have said before, it is neither mild nor French. It was developed in Texas by a venerable old seedhouse. Take a look at the photo above. Again, we placed an average sized grocery store garlic next to a 2018 Mild French garlic bulb. As you can see, the Mild French garlic bulb is huge by comparison. As you develop your garlic “stash” for planting each year, you should select the largest cloves for planting and eat the smaller cloves. If you follow this practice each year you will eventually have a collection of garlic varieties that produce huge, easy to cook with cloves. Because of its unusually large size this year, Mild French would be a good choice. |
 |
Rocambole Garlic, Spanish Roja |
Don’t Miss out on Garlic – Buy Now! |
| Spanish Roja is yet another garlic variety that produced huge bulbs and huge cloves this year. We used the same comparison in the photo above to show you its size. This is, at best, an average sized garlic variety with huge flavor. It is known as “the garlic by which all garlic is judged”. This year, in addition to huge flavor, it is delivering huge cloves. |
 |
Creole Garlic, Burgundy |
Buy Now for Fall Planting! |
| Some people will argue that Burgundy is the best Creole Garlic grown. It is, without question, the most beautiful garlic grown and this year is no different. We include it in this newsletter because it is simply outstanding this year. You can see from the photo at the top of this newsletter and the photo above its size and rich color. These features are matched by rich flavor. Remember Creoles are the class of garlic varieties that can perform well in warmer climates and this is especially true of Burgundy. |
 |
Asiatic Garlic – Korean Mountain |
Don’t Miss out on Garlic – Buy Now! |
| Korean Mountain is always a hot garlic, but this year it is the hottest I have ever experienced and the heat stands up to cooking. If you select garlic based on its heat, this is the year to select Korean Mountain for your garden. |
 |
Marbled Purple Stripe Garlic, Metechi |
Buy Now for Fall Planting! |
| Metechi was one of the interesting surprises this year. Whenever we do a garlic tasting, Metechi always wins – without fail. This year, Metechi was extremely hot, extremely hot when eaten raw, but it lost a lot of this heat when cooked and its tremendous flavor emerged. We don’t know why this year’s Metechi was so exceptionally hot, but if you want heat and great flavor this is a garlic you should try this year. |
 |
Rocambole Garlic – Ontario Purple Trillium |
Buy Now for Fall Planting! |
| For me, the biggest surprise this year was the incredible flavor of Ontario Purple Trillium. I grow this garlic every year and have for about 10 years. It always has good flavor and it a good storer. This year, the bulbs were good size and the individual cloves were generously proportioned, but not exceptionally so. The flavor, however, was unbelievable. Consumed raw, this year’s Ontario Purple Trillium was the hottest I can remember, but the heat could not compete with the garlicky flavor. That flavor is what we dream about when we think garlic. Whether you are beginning your adventure into garlic gardening or have been a garlic gardener for years, this is one you should try and this is the year to do it. |
 |
 |
| Celebrate your uniquely American horticultural heritage Harvest Your History Seed Your Future https://www.harvesting-history.com FREE SHIPPING Follow us on Instagram |
