Metechi (Great Bulbs of Fire)

Harvests mid summer - stores through winter

Grows like a weed and stores like a rock but matures very late.

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.

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.