Minced Garlic

LissaC said:
And how does that smell and taste like? Is is too strong?
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It depends entirely on the garlic variety. Different varieties of garlic have different strengths and potency. I like strong garlic, but the supermarket stuff here is very weak. It's one reason I grow my own. Freezing it can cause it to loose some of its bite the longer it is frozen. If you mince instead of chop, it will loose more and if you blend/puree rather than mince, it will loose more.. The more processed the more it loses over time. So maybe it will suit you better.

If you search on growing you own garlic, you'll be able to read about the different varieties such as creole and porcelains, hard neck and soft neck, turbans, purples and so on. Look for gardening sites that sell garlic.

This is one such site and whilst it is an Australian site, it covers a lot of Mediterranean garlic varieties. It might help you.
The Seed Garlic Shop
 
There are two types of garlic over here: the local (criollo) variety and the imported (Chinese) garlic. The local is way, way superior in flavour, but there's a huge drawback: the cloves are small and very difficult to peel. I tend to use the Chinese, which has big, fat cloves but is not quite so tasty.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
It depends entirely on the garlic variety. Different varieties of garlic have different strengths and potency. I like strong garlic, but the supermarket stuff here is very weak. It's one reason I grow my own. Freezing it can cause it to loose some of its bite the longer it is frozen. If you mince instead of chop, it will loose more and if you blend/puree rather than mince, it will loose more.. The more processed the more it loses over time. So maybe it will suit you better.

If you search on growing you own garlic, you'll be able to read about the different varieties such as creole and porcelains, hard neck and soft neck, turbans, purples and so on. Look for gardening sites that sell garlic.

This is one such site and whilst it is an Australian site, it covers a lot of Mediterranean garlic varieties. It might help you.
The Seed Garlic Shop
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Thank you so much! 😍
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
It depends entirely on the garlic variety. Different varieties of garlic have different strengths and potency. I like strong garlic, but the supermarket stuff here is very weak. It's one reason I grow my own. Freezing it can cause it to loose some of its bite the longer it is frozen. If you mince instead of chop, it will loose more and if you blend/puree rather than mince, it will loose more.. The more processed the more it loses over time. So maybe it will suit you better.

If you search on growing you own garlic, you'll be able to read about the different varieties such as creole and porcelains, hard neck and soft neck, turbans, purples and so on. Look for gardening sites that sell garlic.

This is one such site and whilst it is an Australian site, it covers a lot of Mediterranean garlic varieties. It might help you.
The Seed Garlic Shop
Click to expand...

My friend has land he grows his own. He used to give me a few plaits like the French do. I break down and freeze . 4 years later I'm still using it with no difference in taste.
I do buy store bought chinese.?? Garlic and ginger but I dont use that stuff on my garlic bread.
My friend hasn't had success with it since then as the ground is infected???
Have you heard of this???

Russ
 
rascal said:
My friend has land he grows his own. He used to give me a few plaits like the French do. I break down and freeze . 4 years later I'm still using it with no difference in taste.
I do buy store bought chinese.?? Garlic and ginger but I dont use that stuff on my garlic bread.
My friend hasn't had success with it since then as the ground is infected???
Have you heard of this???

Russ
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Without knowing what the ground is infected with, no. It's kind of like saying you're ill but not saying what with.

Plaited garlic is usually soft neck garlic (early season) I generally only grow late season garlic or hard neck garlic.

I'm lucky around here because we have a lot of garlic growers in the area, so whilst Chinese white skinned garlic is available in the supermarket, I can usually just go to a farmers market or IGA or even a website and buy the locally grown garlic once I've run out of my home grown garlic.
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
Without knowing what the ground is infected with, no. It's kind of like saying you're ill but not saying what with.

Plaited garlic is usually soft neck garlic (early season) I generally only grow late season garlic or hard neck garlic.

I'm lucky around here because we have a lot of garlic growers in the area, so whilst Chinese white skinned garlic is available in the supermarket, I can usually just go to a farmers market or IGA or even a website and buy the locally grown garlic once I've run out of my home grown garlic.
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So last year mike planted garlic on a neighbor's plot with same result. FAIL.
Bad seed???
Btw. He has a tree nursery so ground must've been good??

Russ
 
rascal said:
So last year mike planted garlic on a neighbor's plot with same result. FAIL.
Bad seed???
Btw. He has a tree nursery so ground must've been good??

Russ
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Garlic is susceptible to soil borne diseases/bacteria... something in the soil.

CD
 
karadekoolaid said:
There are two types of garlic over here: the local (criollo) variety and the imported (Chinese) garlic.
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That's rather like saying you only have 2 types of chilli, red and green, or 2 types of potatoes, white skinned and red skinned. Even garlic from China will be more than 1 variety or cultivar because different varieties grow in different seasons and different climate conditions and China has many different climate zones.

I'm guessing you're probably not interested, but others may be...

Groups of garlic include
  • Turban Group
  • Subtropical Group
  • Glazed Purple Stripe Group
  • Standard Purple Stripe Group
  • Rocambole Group
  • Artichoke Group
  • Marbled Purple Stripe Group
  • Rocambole Group
  • Artichoke Group
  • Marbled Purple Stripe Group
  • Silverskin Group
  • Porcelain Group
  • Creole Group
Creole (originally from Spain or France) garlic is a class or type of garlic with many cultivars within that group available. To name just a few
  • French Ail Cremeux
  • Spanish Intenso
  • French Edenrose
  • Rojo del pais Baza
  • Spanish Solace
  • Spanish Roja
  • Dynamite
  • Volcanite
And so on.

This year I'm concentrating on cold climate cultivars such as
  • Georgian Fire (Porcelain group)
  • Tzar (Rocambole Group)
  • Vekan (Glazed Purple Stripe group)
  • Cartier (Rocambole Group)
  • Dunganski (Standard Purple Stripe Group)
  • Deerfield (Rocambole Group)
  • Flamenco (Rocambole Group)
I've found that the Creole Group don't grow well in my soil or climate sadly.
 
Funny you bring this topic up The Late Night Gourmet I finally gave in and bought a jar of the minced stuff in water to try out.
Not terrible.
As caseydog already mentioned, the fresh `round these parts is horrid!!! Have no clue as to where it comes from; goes back real qucik; I get it home-open up a head and inside is rotten --- I give up on fresh.
We have far too many critters `round here that I'm afraid to plant my own.
caseydog Been through Gilroy a gazillion times in my life and you can smell that place comin' for miles !!!!!
On my bucket list is to attend the Garlic Festival
 
kaneohegirlinaz said:
Been through Gilroy a gazillion times in my life and you can smell that place comin' for miles !!!!!
On my bucket list is to attend the Garlic Festival
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They cancelled the Gilroy Garlic Festival due to covid and the high cost of insurance since the 2019 mass shooting incident, and it hasn't come back. There are a handful of smaller garlic related festivals during the year, now.

CD
 
kaneohegirlinaz said:
We have far too many critters `round here that I'm afraid to plant my own.
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Most things don't like garlic, onions or leeks. Chives tend to be safe as well. The exception seems to be my chooks who haven't heard it is bad for them, so it has to be grown in the fenced off veg plot now because last time I hung the garlic up to dry, my top chook started to eat the smallest cloves, so the rest of the flock joined in... apparently they like it, so I can't dry my garlic outside hung on the fencing anymore! Darn chooks! 😆
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
I'm guessing you're probably not interested, but
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Why would you think that? I had no idea there were so many varieties .
When I mentioned "criollo" and "Chinese", that was simply what they're called here.
Here's the local (criollo) variety (or one of them):
Ajo criollo.jpg
 
2 types here as well.
Local and Chinese.
We also only have 2 types of potatoes.
Ones for boiling & mashing, and ones for baking & frying :)

Joking, but it's partly true as no variety/cultivar names are used.
Everything is just lumped together.

Like chili's. We got red and green.

Even worse: try ordering wine in a restaurant...
Me: what wine do you have?
Server: let me go and check.
Server comes back: We got red and white :)

Obviously we have several varieties of chili, potato, garlic etc
 
SatNavSaysStraightOn said:
That's rather like saying you only have 2 types of chilli, red and green, or 2 types of potatoes, white skinned and red skinned. Even garlic from China will be more than 1 variety or cultivar because different varieties grow in different seasons and different climate conditions and China has many different climate zones.

I'm guessing you're probably not interested, but others may be...

Groups of garlic include
  • Turban Group
  • Subtropical Group
  • Glazed Purple Stripe Group
  • Standard Purple Stripe Group
  • Rocambole Group
  • Artichoke Group
  • Marbled Purple Stripe Group
  • Rocambole Group
  • Artichoke Group
  • Marbled Purple Stripe Group
  • Silverskin Group
  • Porcelain Group
  • Creole Group
Creole (originally from Spain or France) garlic is a class or type of garlic with many cultivars within that group available. To name just a few
  • French Ail Cremeux
  • Spanish Intenso
  • French Edenrose
  • Rojo del pais Baza
  • Spanish Solace
  • Spanish Roja
  • Dynamite
  • Volcanite
And so on.

This year I'm concentrating on cold climate cultivars such as
  • Georgian Fire (Porcelain group)
  • Tzar (Rocambole Group)
  • Vekan (Glazed Purple Stripe group)
  • Cartier (Rocambole Group)
  • Dunganski (Standard Purple Stripe Group)
  • Deerfield (Rocambole Group)
  • Flamenco (Rocambole Group)
I've found that the Creole Group don't grow well in my soil or climate sadly.
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Wow, that is news to me. Here in the U.S. most of our garlic comes from around Gilroy, California. They grow several varieties there but we mostly see the normal size and jumbo size varieties. The regular size are the best with the most flavor. The jumbo size need to be jumbo sized because they have weak flavor. I have encountered some purple skinned garlic in the supermarket and I assume those are imported or possibly from California as well. They are tasty but have small cloves making them more work to use. Can't beat the normal heads from Gilroy for me.
 
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