99. Elephant Garlic - All Size Cloves Available
Elephant garlic is sold as whole bulbs early in the season and later on it may be as loose individual cloves - $18. per pound.

There are several components to garlic taste, but we only measure three of them - flavor (or garlickiness), pungency (whichhh is the degree of hotness when eaten raw) and residual or aftertaste, which for some varieties is considerable, and it's not necessarily related to pungency. We measure (subjectively) heat, flavor, and aftertaste on a scale from 1 to 10, each. Raw garlic is hot like a chile pepper, it just doesn't last over a minute, usually and has an aftertaste. Flavor is the intensity of the garlic taste itself, whether it is hot or not; that is, the garlickiness of it. Some have a heavy flavor but mild in heat, whereas others may be light in both or very heavy in both. If you get garlic that scores a ten on all three scales, you have a very potent garlic.

Even among the hot garlics, taste varies. Chinese Purple (Asiatic) for example is instantly hot, whereas Asian Rose, another Asiatic AKA Chinese Sativum, produces a truly beautiful garlic flavor with no hint of heat for about ten seconds then your mouth seems to explode with heat. Some varieties I have taste tested had a delay of almost 30 seconds before the raging one minute inferno set in. Unlike Hot peppers, or chilis as they are properly called, the heat from garlic dissipates quickly, usually in 30 to 45 seconds. Garlic is only hot when eaten raw as cooking removes the heat. This overview is intended to be brief and a detailed discussion of taste will be included in each of the illustrated varietal descriptions of the garlics we have for sale.

The taste of any given garlic changes almost continually. Any garlic is usually milder soon after it is pulled from the ground than it will be after a few months of storage as the chemistry within the garlic evolves during the year. Once pulled from the ground, garlic slowly dehydrates in a natural drying down process that takes months and as it loses its moisture it slowly shrinks in size and the flavor begins to condense and continues to intensify as long as it is stored at room temperature. If at any point during this process you slice and dry it, it will retain whatever flavor it had at that point and will not change any more. Shelf life at room temp and about 50% humidity is from four to ten months or longer, depending on the variety and the health and condition of the garlic.

Also, growing conditions directly affect taste. While each cultivar has its normal flavor, that is, what it tastes like in a normal year, each one varies from year to year based on that years growing conditions. Adverse weather can make normally mild varieties hot and usually hot garlics become mild - but the next year they return to normal. Our varietal description will try to describe the current crop's taste as accurately as possible since we test taste random samples of each cultivar.

All taste tests are done with raw garlic because that is the only way I know of to accurately determine the true taste of a garlic since cooking changes the flavor of any garlic. Please read our section on cooking with garlic for a detailed discussion of how cooking affects the flavor of garlic. There we talk about some tricks you can use to make the garlic flavor mild and creamy or as bold as you prefer.

Burgundy has a deep flavor yet mild heat that make it a delight for raw eating - most creoles have this characteristic although some are a little stronger. Red Toch, Chester Aaron's favorite, has a similar taste - lightrichness. Chesnok Red and Siberian fall in there somewhere. Inchelium Red and Nootka Rose are excellent medium and medium warm tasting garlics and are very good for raw eating with rich fullness.

Hardnecks, such as Rocamboles, Purple Stripes and Porcelains have generally the deepest flavors with Rocamboles having the most earthy and musty flavor and usually a lot of heat, but storing the shortest time. Rocamboles are excellent for raw eating even though they're strong because of the deep, rich, earthy flavor that just makes everything feel better. Commercial Artichoke garlics are generally considered to have the least flavor of garlics, although they can have a lot of heat, they may not have much depth.

Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to get good garlic at your local supermarket during the late winter through mid-summer? There is a reason for that-most garlic sold in stores is artichoke garlic and by that time it is beginning to deteriorate or trying to sprout and grow as it has been out of the ground long past its time to be replanted (the fall). It is usually sometime around mid-July before good garlic again becomes available.

Because most garlics grown in the United States are grown in more northerly latitudes, the time to harvest usually starts in late June or early July. Since we are located in the southernmost part of the country, our garlic matures a month or two earlier than the northern growers so we can offer high quality gourmet varieties much sooner than most other growers. We often begin harvesting in mid May and can have freshly harvested garlic available in June.

Elephant garlic is so mild you can take a whole bulb of it and slice the cloves into quarter inch thick steaks, sauté them in butter or olive oil and serve them as a vegetable.