Garlic (Allium sativum) is a species in the Amaryllidaceae family of plants. It is closely related to onions, shallots, leeks, and chives. A native of Central Asia and northeastern Iran, garlic is grown around the world and has been consumed by humans for several thousand years both as a food seasoning and as a traditional medicine. Much of the garlic in the United States is grown in and around Gilroy, California, which calls itself the Garlic Capital of the World. Garlic will grow well, however, just about anywhere on the continent.
What’s Up With Hard and Soft Garlic?
There are two types of garlic: hardneck and softneck. The naming scheme behind the two types is obvious. Hardneck garlic bulbs have a central stem (aka the scape) that dries up into a hard stalk, or neck, as the bulbs cure. Softneck garlic bulbs don’t put up a stem and so have no noticeable central stalk. Compared with the softnecks, hardneck varieties tend to have fewer and bigger cloves (which makes them easier to work with, in my book). Because of their numerous cloves, softnecks tend to be bigger heads overall. Softnecks also store longer. Most of the garlic grown in stores is softneck.
Hardneck varieties grow better in the north, where we have harsher winter weather. They’re planted in the fall and then harvested the following summer. That’s why it’s relatively easy to get hardneck garlic July through December (especially if you shop at farmers’ markets or groceries that favor local produce) and nearly impossible to get hardneck garlic in the late winter or spring. You pretty much have to be really, really good at saving your own garlic if you want to enjoy hardneck all year long.
And I say enjoy because flavor is another difference between the hardneck and sfotneck varieties. Many people, including chefs, foodies, or general good eaters, agree that hardneck has the better flavor. Hardneck varieties just seem to have more going on to intrigue the palate. The flavor is deeper, spicier, and yet somehow sweeter. That’s why we use hardneck garlic in all of our olive oil infusions. I occasionally eat and enjoy softnekcs too, but in case you can’t tell, I’m a bit biased toward the hardneck garlic varieties. But maybe you prefer softnecks, and that’s OK too!
A fun side note: You may have heard that elephant garlic is a third type of garlic, but elephant garlic is not garlic at all. It’s actually closer to a leek, and its extremely large cloves are very mild in flavor.
How Long Can I Hold Onto My Garlic?
Because we prefer hardneck varieties in our infusions, we’ve become somewhat experts at storing garlic. When stored for months on end, garlic wants to either rot or grow (we mostly have trouble with it starting to grow). If you’re going to store your garlic for more than a couple of weeks, you’ll want to keep it on the bulb. Don’t break it into cloves. Also, leave as much of the paper skin on the bulb as possible. You can even leave the garden dirt on, if possible. Keep your bulbs dry, in the dark, and fairly cool. By cool, I mean around 60 degrees F. Going cooler than that starts to mimic garlic sprouting conditions. Humidity seems to be another key to long-term storage. I’ve had bulbs survive for months in warmish but dry air. The vegetable crisper, on the other hand, turns out to be a terrible place to store garlic. We’ve found that when stored under proper conditions, hardneck garlic will keep 6 months or more (our record is a year!).
If you’re having trouble storing your garlic whole, you can easily freeze it. You can freeze whole cloves, or you can also peel and chop your garlic before sealing it tightly in a freezer bag and tossing it in the freezer. The garlic pieces will lose their firmness once frozen, but for most dishes, that doesn’t matter. Canning garlic is not recommended for health safety reasons. You can, however, safely dry garlic at home. Just separate and peel the cloves, chop them in half lengthwise, and throw them in your dehydrator until dry and brittle. You can store dried garlic in chip form, or you can even grind it up to make homegrown garlic powder.
Any Tips for Cooking With Garlic?
The first tip to cooking great garlic is to start with great garlic. As I mentioned, I often favor the flavor of hardneck garlic varieties, but I find that by shopping at farmers’ markets or searching online, you can come across several different varieties to taste at home. When buying garlic, look for bulbs that a firm with tight, unbroken skins. Look for bulbs that have a decent heft to them when you pick them up. Bulbs that seem like they should feel heavier than they do may have dried up inside. Also, don’t buy bulbs that are sprouting . . . unless you’re looking to plant them!
When it comes to using and eating garlic, sometimes the easiest and quickest way to peel a clove is to put it on the cutting board, lay your knife flat on top of it so that the sharp edge is resting against the cutting board, and pound the flat edge of the knife with your fist (you need a fairly wide knife to do this). If you’ve ever watched a cooking show, you’ve probably seen a chef peel garlic this way. The smashed garlic clove will have loosened skin that’s easy to peel. Of course, the clove itself will also be smashed, but that usually doesn’t matter, since you’ll just be mincing it anyways.
You’ll come across all kinds of recipes for all kinds of dishes that call for garlic. And if you search “how to eat garlic” online, you’ll come across oodles of ideas for eating raw garlic. It turns out that raw garlic might have some great health benefits (which I wrote about here). If nothing else, however, you can always eat garlic on bread. You can do it by roasting the garlic whole and then spreading the sweet juicy cloves on warm French baguette, or you can mix up your own garlic butter to spread on loaves of French bread that you then toast in the oven. Either way, you have a delish dish.
And What If I Want to Try Growing My Own Garlic?
Go for it! That’s a whole other post, which you can find here.
