Different Kinds of Garlic

Basically, there are two types of garlic: hard-neck and soft-neck. Hard-necked garlic was the original and soft-necked garlic was cultivated over time by growers through a process of selection. From there, the differences are found in the garlic’s taste, size, outer skin, number of cloves per bulb, color, pungency and storability.

There are said to be over 600 cultivated sub-varieties of garlic, although most of them may be selections of only a handful of basic types. The latest research claims that ten fairly distinct groups of garlic have evolved including five very different hard-neck varieties called Porcelain, Purple Stripe, Marbled Purple Stripe, Glazed Purple Stripe, and Rocambole; three varieties of weakly bolting hard-necks that often produce soft-necks: Creole, Asiatic, and Turban, plus two distinct soft-neck groups: Artichoke and Silver skin.

A hard-neck garlic appropriately named Purple Stripe is vividly striped with purplish vertical stripes decorating the bulb wrappers. In between the purple stripes, their bulb wrappers are usually very white and thick. This coloration is affected by growing conditions, particularly weather. They tend to be rather rich in flavor. Standard Purple Stripes (Chesnok Red and Persian Star) make the sweetest roasted garlic.

A soft-necked garlic (Allium Sativum) called Artichoke Garlic is the kind seen in most supermarkets. These artichoke garlics are among the easiest to grow and produce large bulbs that have lots of cloves, usually somewhere between 12 and 20. Artichokes store well and have a wide range of flavors with some, like Simoneti and Red Toch, being very mild and pleasant. Others, such as Inchelium Red and Susanville, have greater depth of flavor. Chinese Purple and Purple Cauldron are much stronger and stick around for a while. The Asiatic group of the artichoke garlic tends to send up shoots, despite the fact that they're supposed to be soft-necks. The Turban group of the artichoke garlic is the most colorful and has fewer cloves per bulb than the others.

Silver skin garlics are the ones that you see in braids mainly because they are the longest storing of all the garlics and have a soft pliable neck. Their bulb wrappers are very white although the clove covers can be strikingly colorful as in the case of Nootka Rose or Rose du Var.

The Creole garlics are a unique group of garlics, and one of the easiest eating raw garlics owing to a taste that is rich and full with only a very moderate pungency. Creole Red and Ajo Rojo are noticeably stronger in taste, however; and they retain their flavor well when cooked.

Porcelain garlics are among the most beautiful with very thick, luxuriant bulb wrappers. Porcelains are strong tasting garlics with a few exceptions and can store for up to eight months or more at a cool room temperature. Porcelains grow better in northern climates.

Rocambole garlics tend to have thin bulb wrappers with lots of purple striping and splotches. The flavor of the Rocambole garlic is intense and complex—sweet as opposed to aggressively sulfurous. Because of this, they are a favorite to use when raw garlic is called for, such as for crushing and mixing with vinegar or lemon and olive oil for a salad. Rocamboles are among the best when garlic is prominently featured in the cuisine. Their only drawback is that they are among the shortest storing garlics of all.

Dayelle Swensson is an avid writer for the web on a number of topics. Having gardened herself for many years, she is able to advise others about a variety of things including gardening tips, lawn and tree care, watering, hose reel and keeping your home garden looking good and healthy.