Where is your garlic from? And does it matter...

vernplum

Veteran
Joined
1 Jan 2021
Local time
7:34 PM
Messages
1,188
Location
Singapore
Hello!

Where does your garlic come from? Does it make a difference in your opinion? Do you know? Do you care?

The reason I ask is because around here, supermarkets and wet markets predominantly sell garlic from China that costs about $1 for 8 bulbs. It tastes ok to me, but the other day in an upmarket grocers I saw garlic imported from France and Spain and thought I'd give them a try (at about $6 for 5 bulbs for each). I didn't notice any garlicky difference. Cloves were slightly bigger I suppose...

Does your mileage vary garlic-wise? What is the Rolls-Royce of garlics?
 
Right now, I have some garlic from the organic farmer guy about three or four miles from my house. It's very good and noticeably different than the garlic I buy at the supermarket.

The supermarket garlic is from California (I think). When I buy that, I usually get two bulbs of elephant garlic for $1US.

Supermarket garlic is bad all around - sometimes it's musty-smelling, it's usually hard and growing green shoots out of the cloves, and it frequently is covered in brown spots. It can sometimes take going through a few cloves to find a "good" one.
 
Oh wow - if I lived in the US i'd totally be getting some of those braids! That looks amazing and I'd love to know how it tastes (now googling how i can get some...)
Softneck garlic

"Softneck garlic, the kind usually found in supermarkets and often imported, has the best storage life and is easier to braid than hardnecks. Growers with freezing winter weather can grow either hardneck or softneck garlic, but have the best success with hardnecks. Growers in warm winter areas do better with softnecks."
In the UK I grew both. I preferred the flavor and strength of hardneck. It takes longer to mature. I stored both the same way, carefully trim and clean then dry. Once dry hang in a net in a cool place..
 
Family friend grows it, about half acre although I havnt had any in two years. He plaits it for me and I get about 3 or 4 plaits which I break up and freeze. I still have about two X 2 litre containers of it. It keeps longer when frozen for garlic butter than fresh. I'm due some any day. We havnt bought garlic for 15 years. We do swaps for my tomato sauce etc.

Russ
 
Softneck garlic

"Softneck garlic, the kind usually found in supermarkets and often imported, has the best storage life and is easier to braid than hardnecks. Growers with freezing winter weather can grow either hardneck or softneck garlic, but have the best success with hardnecks. Growers in warm winter areas do better with softnecks."
In the UK I grew both. I preferred the flavor and strength of hardneck. It takes longer to mature. I stored both the same way, carefully trim and clean then dry. Once dry hang in a net in a cool place..

OK. I'm not green-fingered really, so will see what I can find in online grocers. Thanks for the tip!
 
Our garlic is grown locally and sold in the markets. The garlic grown in Sisaket (about 100 km east of us) is supposed to be the best but I'm afraid that I cannot detect a difference.

garlic.jpg
 
Like Burt Blank says, its probably less about where your garlic was grown, than what type of garlic it is. Not only do you have hard- and softneck, but within those two classifications you also have different varieties...all of which have their own characteristics.

These are just some of the varieties available to grow in the uk: Shop Online for Garlic Products | The Garlic Farm Isle of Wight

We grew garlic on our allotment for a few years, its pretty easy to grow if the weather co-operates! We mostly grew hardneck varieties and once dried we crushed it all and froze in blocks to use when needed (more more reliable storage than trying to keep it whole!). But its a lot of work harvesting, drying and preparing for storage so we gave up.
 
For me it makes a huge difference the type of garlic and especially where it comes from. By that I mean not necessarily Italian (but European anyway), although I often choose national garlic, in particular a type of small red and very fragrant garlic that is the garlic from Sulmona, in Abruzzo.
Sometimes I have bought garlic extra-EU, giant cloves but alas with no flavour and little garlic aroma. Certainly cheaper, but in the end......I prefer to use basic products that have their own personality and if I have to pay a bit more, well, for me it will always be worth it.

Speaking of garlic, a special mention for me goes to black garlic, a type of fermented white garlic that has a flavour reminiscent of liquorice with a hint of balsamic vinegar. It has a pasty consistency and is really good, I use it a lot.

54417
 
Oh wow - if I lived in the US i'd totally be getting some of those braids! That looks amazing and I'd love to know how it tastes (now googling how i can get some...)

I can get it online, easily. I drive through Gilroy every time I go to Monterey Peninsula, for Monterey car week, and the Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance. The smell of garlic growing in the fields is intoxicating to a garlic lover. For others, it stinks. :laugh:

Gilroy has a Garlic Festival. I'd love to go, some year.

Gilroy Garlic Festival

A mass shooting occurred at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in 2019. The gunman killed three people and wounded 17 others before committing suicide after a shootout with responding police officers. :cry:

CD
 
Last edited:
Hello!

Where does your garlic come from? Does it make a difference in your opinion? Do you know? Do you care?

My garlic comes from Christopher Ranch in Gilroy which is about a 20 minute drive south on the 101. On a day with the wind from the south in the peak season, you can smell Garlic in the air. Christopher Ranch is the biggest Garlic farm in the USA.
 
Back
Top Bottom