I have only recently discovered the S & H Silverskin and already I treasure it. Superlatives are the order of the day. The bulbs are large and firm and the outer bulb wrappers are thick and white but one discovers their true inner beauty as the white wrappers give way to a rosy hue as the cranberries in cream-colored clove covers become visible. They taste as good as they look.

Wow! The taste is rare for a Silverskin - Rich and musky in garlickiness, yet mild in pungency. Long on flavor and short on burn. If you want the bold taste of real garlic in your recipes, try this wonderful long storing cultivar. Bulbs will average eight to twelve large cloves per bulb with very few small cloves, unlike some Silverskins.

Grown at S & H Organic Acres and send to Filaree Farm, from whom we obtained it, it is a wonderful very long storing garlic for braids or just storing through the winter and still being good the following Spring. S & H Silverskins are very late harvesting, very long storing garlics. They have several clove layers and wrapper layers; that's what makes them so long storing.

Locati is a silverskin (softneck braider) originally from Milan, Italy. Typical of silverskins, the bulb wrappers are very white and moderately thick but flake off easily when peeling. The cream colored clove covers have a rosy blush to them and protect long thin graceful looking cloves that are rather warm in taste, hotter than the average artichoke but nowhere near as hot as the Chinese varieties. The backs of the clove covers are tannish with a satiny purplish haze to them. The bulbs are definitely smaller in size than artichokes, but that is typical of silverskins and their inverted heart shape makes them ideal for braiding, especially since they store clean and healthy for a very long time.

Locati garlics average 11 to 12 plantable cloves per bulb, fewer than most silverskins, but they make up for it by not having a lot of tiny inner cloves. They seem to be well adapted to planting almost anywhere and the uniform size of the outer cloves make them very attractive, especially for braiding. Silverskins are the last garlics to mature and harvest and are generally the longest storing garlics so you can have good garlic to eat long after most other varieties have deteriorated or gone back into the ground. Don't let the smaller size of silverskins deter you as experts have long known that the smaller ones often store better and taste better than many of the larger ones.What good are large garlics if they have deteriorated and the smaller ones are still firm and delicious? You might want to buy a few of these to eat when your stockpile of other kinds have been depleted and you can't get good garlic at your local supermarket.

A long storing silverskin from France, Rose du Var is a bold and beautiful garlic. Its luxuriantly thick bulb wrappers are milky white and easy to peel. Peeling reveals cloves that are creamy colored with reddish-purple streaks with a full red blush near the elongated tips and between cloves. The backsides of the cloves are very red. The cloves are very satiny and the visual impression is of raspberries and cream, but the taste belies this impression. There are several layers of cloves and they all seem to be big as there are no small inner cloves - a chef's delight. If grown well, it should make a very nice braider as it is visually attractive, long storing and full flavored.

The taste is typically silverskin - strong and long. If you want the bold taste of real French garlic in your recipes for continental cuisine, try this European pearl. Bulbs will average eight to twelve cloves per bulb and they grow and store clean.