[ Our Home Page ] [ Online Catalog ] [ Garlic Overview ] [ 40 Varieties ] [ Growing Garlic ] [ Cooking with Garlic ] [ Chemistry of Garlic ] [ Garlic Pills & Oils, Etc. ] [ Health Benefits ] [ Links ] [ FAQs ] [ How to Order ]
[ Sampler Assortments ]
[ Pickle & Preserve Garlic ]
[ Artichoke (Softneck) Garlics ]
[ Asiatic Garlics ]
[ Creole Garlics ]
[ Porcelain Garlics ]
[ Purple Stripe Garlics ]
[ Rocambole Garlics ]
[ Silverskin (Softneck) Garlics ]
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Purple Stripe Garlics
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NEW! - February 26, 2010 - We now include an online garlic gardeners market where you buy direct from each market gardener - just like at your local farmers market. |
Standard Purple Stripe garlics make the sweetest baking garlics of all. The first time I tried roasted Chesnok Red garlic, I thought someone had put some sugar in it - they are sweet. You can add roasted Purple Stripe garlic to vanilla ice cream and re-freeze it and it will have the taste and texture of butter brickle ice cream.
Purple Stripe garlics grow well in most of the USA and the marbled Purple Stripes like Metechi and Siberian have consistently grown very well here in West central Texas and they seem to be more resistant to damage by early hot weather than most other kinds. The
In addition to the standard purple stripes,
there are two groups of sub-varieties, the glazed
group and the marbled group. Both seem to have thicker bulb wrappers but the glazed group has almost glassy-looking bulb wrappers at times, thus their name.
The Marbled group could be easily mistaken for Porcelains were it not for their bold colors and elongated clove tips.
fewer cloves per bulb than the standard group and most have a much hotter raw taste. Both subgroups are harder to find than the standard group.
Purple stripes tend to be very beautiful garlics and some are almost solid purple.
that tend to be either very strong, such as Metechi or very
mild, such as Siberian. Persian Star has extremely long pointed clove covers
that protrude an inch or two above the clove and a wonderful medium flavor.
We sell only superior garlic and will not knowingly sell garlic that does not meet our high standards of quality. If I would not want to buy it for my own seed stock, I will not sell it to others. We wish to carry on our reputation for quality, not quantity. Our organic/sustainable suppliers feel the same way we do about it.
When using your credit/debit card to buy direct from different gardeners, a separate order is required for each gardener.
You may buy as many different kinds of garlic as you want from any gardener on any order but each grower requires a separate order.
If you want to order garlic from more than one grower, a seperate order must be placed with each gardener.
If you buy from a gardener and later cancel that order, the credit card processing gateway still charges Gourmet Garlic Gardens the full processing
fee plus an additional fee for processing the cancellation and also it places an additional clerical burden on us
so, regretably, we must charge a 10% cancellation fee when processing the cancellation because that's about what it costs us.
My advice is to look around among the various market gardeners and decide what to buy from whom and then
place your orders and stick with the gardeners you have chosen.
If you would like to try a little garlic from several different gardeners, you can order a sampler assortment and request particular garlics from specific growers. Click here to check out our sampler Assortments.
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How Our Garlics are Grown
Some of our growers are Certified Organic and some are Certified Naturally Grown, which we regard as equal to Certified Organic in every meaningful way but without all the bureaucratic rigamarole. All our market gardeners grow organically/sustainably but not all want to be certified and are among the best available sources of sustainable/organic Garlic We do not allow growers who use synthetic petroleum-based fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides or herbacides to participate in our farmers market.
All garlic in our farmers market is grown in the USA, no imports allowed.
This farmers market is strictly for small-scale American market gardeners/growers who live and grow sustainably..
The Standard Group of Purple Stripe Garlics
Harvests mid summer - stores about 6-8 months if healthy.- Sorry, Sold Out. -
After ordering, use your back arrow key to return to this point, otherwise the secure shopping cart will return you to our home page.- Sorry, Sold Out. -
Chesnok Red is yet another one of the garlics from the Republic of Georgia in the former USSR. Chesnok is a standard Purple Stripe and has the typical heavy purple striping that gives this variety its name. They have about as much purple as Rocamboles but the background color of the bulb wrappers is much more whitish, making for a very attractive appearance. Chesnok Red can become a rather large garlic with excellent growing conditions.
The outer bulb wrappers are a little thin & loose, but the more you peel away, the thicker and tighter they get (makes the bulb wrappers easy to peel). Once the cloves are revealed, they are seen to be large and with long thin points and are all milky white with cranberry-colored streaks up the outsides of the cloves whike the edges between the cloves are nearly solid cranberry and the elongated tips rather tannish. Large bulbs will have about a dozen cloves and even the inner ones are of good size. They can run an inch or two up the central scape (false stem) and are not only attractive but make the cloves easy to peel. Purple Stripes do not store as well or as long as the softneck varieties (about six months at room temperature) but are generally more intensively flavored and retain their flavor better when cooked.
They have fewer but larger cloves (average of 8 to 10) arranged in a rather circular pattern. Although large bulbs will have about a dozen cloves and even the inner ones are of good size. They may well be among the oldest of the garlics.
Chesnok Red is a full flavored garlic with a mellow aftertaste that sticks around nicely for a while. Some years it can also be a hot and strong garlic, other years it is much less hot, but it is always full flavored. They're not as large as Artichoke garlics but are larger than Silverskins (average diameter of extra-large size is around 2 inches). From a grower's perspective, they seem to do fairly well in most locales but seem to want to be planted early in the fall. If you wait too long to plant them they may not tolerate adverse weather conditions too well.
Harvests mid summer - stores about 6 months.
- Order Now for immediate shipment. -
After ordering, use your back arrow key to return to this point, otherwise the secure shopping cart will return you to our home page.- Order Now for immediate shipment. -
Persian Star is a perhaps the most beautiful of the standard group of Purple Stripes with its thick white bulb wrappers that are streaked with purple as you peel away the outer wrappers. When the wrappers are all peeled away the clove covers with their distinctive long sharp points resemble an eight point star, hence their name.They apparently originated in Uzbekistan, one of those central Asian Islamic republics that were once part of the USSR. They are a full flavored garlic with only a small bite to them and are very mild compared to Skuri #2 and other standard Purple Stripes. They're pretty enough to be used as a centerpiece, especially if you strip one or two of their wrappers to expose their star-like clove structure.
If you are a true garlic gourmet you owe it to yourself to get a few of these and be sure to save some for planting in the early fall. They probably do better in colder winter climates with cooler springs than we have but they have done fine here. They mature in mid season.
The Marbled Group of Purple Stripes
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Metechi - Great Bulbs of Fire. -
Harvests mid-late summer - stores 7-9 months.- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
After ordering, use your back arrow key to return to this point, otherwise the secure shopping cart will return you to our home page.- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
Great bulbs of fire! Metechi is one of the most fabulous garlics in the world, in my view. These are huge garlics with a flavor that is even bigger. They are close to the size of the largest Artichokes and beautiful enough to put on a pedestal in an art museum. They have five to seven monstrously large cloves that will blow your socks off. I think they're even hotter than Skuri #2 but seem to have a more pleasant lingering aftertaste. These great fireballs store much better, firmer and longer than the standard group and grow much better for us as well. Metechi's bulb wrappers are thick, luxuriant and parchment-like and the outer ones are very, very white. As you peel away the outer wrappers more and more purple striping shows up and they become almost solid purple by the time you get down to the cloves. The clove covers are dark brown with purple streaks and long sharp pointed tips.
When I taste tested this magnificent beast, my face turned very red, tears welled up and I broke out into an instant profuse sweat and I thought fire was coming out of my nose and ears. I had to breathe in through my mouth and out through my nose in an effort to cool the heat, which subsided after a minute or so. It took almost an hour for the hair on the back of my neck to dry. I don't know if I had an extra large bite due to the size of the clove or what, but I gained a wholesome respect for this garlic. The aftertaste was warm pleasing and garlicky, but not unpleasant. Its flavor seems to hold up well in cooking.
Metechi has been the best growing garlic in our garden every year we have grown it. A few years ago Mother Nature toying with the weather all but wiped out many of our cultivars, Metechi and Bogatyr prospered as usual while within fifty feet of it, two other Marbled Purple Stripes, Brown Rose and Brown Tempest, barely survived. Its foliage is a deep dark green with a definite purplish haze and large, thick and healthy looking. If you love big, beautiful, bold and powerful garlic that grows like a weed and stores like a rock, this is the one for you. It matures very late and is one of the last garlics we harvest.
Siberian
- Metechi's Mild-Mannered Cousin. -
- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
After ordering, use your back arrow key to return to this point.- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
The first time we grew Siberian a couple of years ago, One of our gardens was attacked by a plague of grasshoppers just as they were starting to forms bulbs and they ate the entire garden to the ground, and then went into the ground after the bulbs. The only thing left standing was the Siberian garlic. The Siberians were barely touched - I have no idea why. We lost 24,000 plants of 30 different kinds of garlic in less than a week. A lot of hard work for nothing. I must have offended Mother Nature the week before as I gloated over what a beautiful crop I was going to harvest. Will the Siberians survive the next onslaught of locusts? - I doubt it. The new crop looks pretty good right now - is that some sort of danger sign? I hope I am not speaking too soon again.
Bogatyr
- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
Great bulbs of fire! Like their cousin, Metechi, Bogatyr is one of the most fabulous garlics in the world, in my view. These are huge garlics with a flavor that is even bigger. They are close to the size of the largest Artichokes and beautiful enough to put on a pedestal in an art museum. Because Metechi and Bogatyr are indistinguishable from each other except by dna analysis, I am going to use Metechi's description for Bogatyr. They have five to seven monstrously large cloves that will blow your socks off. I think they're even hotter than Skuri #2 but seem to have a more pleasant lingering aftertaste. These great fireballs store much better, firmer and longer than the standard group and grow much better for us as well.
Their bulb wrappers are thick, luxuriant and parchment-like and the outer ones are very, very white. As you peel away the outer wrappers more and more purple striping shows up and they become almost solid purple by the time you get down to the cloves. The clove covers are dark brown with purple streaks and long sharp pointed tips.
When I taste tested this magnificent beast, my face turned very red, tears welled up and I broke out into an instant profuse sweat and I thought fire was coming out of my nose and ears. I had to breathe in through my mouth and out through my nose in an effort to cool the heat, which subsided after a minute or so. It took almost an hour for the hair on the back of my neck to dry. I don't know if I had an extra large bite due to the size of the clove or what, but I gained a wholesome respect for this garlic. The aftertaste was warm pleasing and garlicky, but not unpleasant. Its flavor seems to hold up well in cooking.
The Glazed Group of Purple Stripes
Glazed Purple Stripe Garlics will likely be of limited availability in 2007. If we get any, such as Purple Glazer, Vekak or Red Rezan, etc., here is where we will list and describe them.
Glazed Purple Striped garlics are tall, willowy garlics that grow almost anywhere, except for the warmest of warm winter areas, and even there some years.
They are vividly colored and have great eye appeal because of their deep vibrant colors and with their rich warm flavor, they taste as good as they look.
Purple Glazer
- Large, Tall plant with rich Medium Flavor - Stores Well.
- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
After ordering, use your back arrow key to return to this point.- May be available in 2009 - ask for it in Sampler Assortments. -
Purple Glazer is one of the few Glazed Purple Stripes available and they're fabulous garlics that grow well in most climates although iffy in the warmest winter areas. Their bulb wrappers show a different texture than either the main group of Purple Stripes or the distinctive Marbled group.
Purple Glazers are tall plants with dark green very elongated leaves with a definite blue cast to them in the sunlight. Their leaves longer and thinner than and not as wide as the Marbled group while the main group are clearly smaller. Glazed Purple Stripes are the tall willowy maidens of the garden and are usually the tallest garlics. With good growing conditions the bulbs can get very large, 2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter. The inner bulb wrappers of Purple Glazers can be almost solid purple with purple clove colors and they are very beautiful bulbs of very rich color and they are a lovely addition to the table centerpiece until you're ready to eat them. If you want to flash some stark, raving color to get someone's attention, these garlics will do the job.
Purple Glazers bulb wrappers are sleek and parchment-like and the outer ones are very, very white. As you peel away the outer wrappers more and more purple striping shows up and they become almost solid purple by the time you get down to the cloves. The clove covers are dark brown with purple streaks and long sharp pointed tips. The cloves are more elongated than the Marbled ones or the main group but all have the characteristic extremely elongated clove cover tips, some several inches long, unique to the Purple Stripes.
Purple Glazer has that same sweet warm richness of flavor common to Purple Stripe garlics; excellent for raw eating and fabulous for roasting because of the exceptional sweetness of Purple Stripe garlics. They're more like Red Toch or Burgundy in flavor and have a very pleasant lingering aftertaste.
These bulbs store every bit as long and firm as the standard Purple Stripes, around 7-8 months at room temp after harvest.
How Our Garlics are Grown
Usually our garlic is grown near Brownwood in central Texas. We live on a working cattle ranch and have several old family garden plots where our garlic is grown without the use of any toxic chemical pesticides or herbicides and in rotation with vegetables we grow for family use and sometimes the local farmers markets. Soon, we will devote more acreage for growing garlic in rotation.
This year we will offer some of the garlic we have grown (mostly for warm winter area gardeners) and for the fourth straight year, other sustainable and organic growers have made their finest produce available for us to sell. They all know to send me only their best, because I will neither buy nor sell any lesser quality garlic. Besides, I pay these growers their price and they are rightfully proud of their garlic. Those I continue to be impressed with are the ones I buy from. If our garlic isn't the best in the country, I'd like to find out what is, 'cause I would like to buy some of it.
Most of our growers are Certified Organic and are among the best available sources of Certified Organic Garlic
and we will happily fill your order with garlic from them at no extra cost if you ask for Certified Organic.
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[ Our Home Page ] [ Online Catalog ] [ Garlic Overview ] [ 40 Varieties ] [ Growing Garlic ] [ Cooking with Garlic ] [ Chemistry of Garlic ] [ Garlic Pills & Oils, Etc. ] [ Health Benefits ] [ Links ] [ FAQs ] [ How to Order Garlic ]
[ Sampler Assortments ]
[ Pickling & Preserving Garlic ]
[ Artichoke (Softneck) Garlics ]
[ Asiatic Garlics ]
[ Creole Garlics ]
[ Porcelain Garlics ]
[ Purple Stripe Garlics ]
[ Rocambole Garlics ]
[ Silverskin (Softneck) Garlics ]
Our site is always under construction. - This page last updated October 26, 2010.
If you would like to communicate with us, please send email to:
bob@web-access.net
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