Preorder your garlic now!
There are myriad reasons humans have consumed garlic for thousands of years.
For starters, it’s easy to grow, easy to harvest, easy to use, and, yes, easy to enjoy. And this year, Seed Savers Exchange is making it easy to order, too—we’re offering seven hardneck garlic varieties (four porcelain and three purple-stripe) and two softneck garlic varieties for sale. Preorder now at seedsavers.org! Garlic will begin shipping in mid-September and continue until sold out.
Hardneck versus softneck
Hardneck garlic varieties tend to form fewer cloves per bulb than softneck varieties, but those cloves are often a bit larger. Hardneck garlic grows better in colder climates because it requires prolonged exposure to cold weather of at least 40 days at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or less. This process is called vernalization.
Softneck garlic varieties excel in milder climates, growing better in environments with warmer winters because they do not require cold exposure to make bulbs (whereas hardneck garlics do). They also mature more quickly than hardneck varieties, don’t form scapes, and generally contain several small cloves per bulb.
HARDNECK GARLIC
Porcelain garlic typically has bulbs with thick, bright-white skin. Bulbs have at least four cloves that are bold in flavor when raw or cooked. Porcelain garlic is cold-tolerant and stores for about eight months.
Purple-stripe garlics include glazed purple-stripe, marbled purple-stripe, and standard purple-stripe subgroups. Off-white bulbs have some degree of purple striping and deep-purple to red clove wrappers. This garlic type excels when baked or roasted.
PORCELAIN HARDNECK VARIETIES
The beautiful, large, and cold-hardy ‘Georgian Crystal’ bulbs store very well and resist most of the common pests and diseases that afflict garlic. This variety produces four to eight large cloves that have a mild flavor when raw and a delicious buttery flavor when roasted. The bulbs have shiny white skin, sometimes streaked with purple on the inner layers.
This robust and cold-hardy variety delivers powerful flavor and has four to six impressively large, easy-to-peel cloves per bulb. It has a pleasant hotness perfect for salsas and stores well into late winter. Plump cloves are covered in tan, purple-streaked skins, while the bulb is wrapped in white, tissuey covers.
The productive ‘Krasnodar White’ is an excellent cooking garlic. It delivers medium heat and tastes peppery when raw, nutty and starchy when roasted. A favorite at local farmers markets, this garlic produces consistently and stores well (up to six months). Bulbs have large cloves and a long shelf life (up to six months).
The vigorous ‘Music’ garlic hits all the right notes—it produces jumbo-sized cloves, stores very well, tolerates cold, and has a spicy robust flavor. Thick, tightly wrapped skins are easy to peel, have a creamy white color, and encase four to five rose-colored cloves per head. This variety makes a perfect addition to soups, sauces, stir fries, marinades, and dips.
PURPLE-STRIPE HARDNECK VARIETIES
‘Belarus’
‘Belarus’ boasts a rich “garlicky” flavor; it is delightfully mellow when raw and sweet when roasted. Thick, white outer bulb wrappers develop purple stripes that increase in intensity closer to the cloves, with the clove covers bearing a deep reddish-purple color. Bulbs will store through the winter.
‘Chesnok Red’ (also known as ‘Shvelisi’)
The aromatic and flavorful ‘Chesnok Red’ is an excellent baking and cooking garlic. Large, easy-to-peel cloves keep their shape and develop a sweet, full-bodied flavor when cooked, making this garlic a good addition to many types of dishes. Bulbs are white on the outside with eight to ten red cloves inside. Bulbs store well (up to six months).
Quite hot when eaten raw, this garlic has a pleasantly strong nutty flavor when roasted or baked. Its full-bodied flavor lingers and is retained after cooking. The creamy texture of ‘Krasnodar Red’ makes it a great choice for baking. Easy-to-peel bulbs are wrapped in attractive, striped wrappers that surround pink-skinned cloves. A favorite at local farmers markets, where its delightful flavor profile attracts return customers, this garlic produces consistently and stores well (up to six months).
SOFTNECK GARLIC
Chet Stevenson discovered this softneck artichoke variety growing wild in an abandoned garden in Tonasket, Washington, in the 1960s and went on to reselect it for the next 25 years. Large bulbs produce 10-20 cloves each, about 65-75 cloves per pound. Noted for its mild flavor, this garlic consistently produces well; stores up to six months; and works well for sautéing, making stir fries and soups, roasting, and pickling. White to yellowish clove skins have faint brown-pink blush at the base and/or tip and some purple streaking.
The Rodale Institute rated this softneck artichoke variety—which originated at the Colville Indian Reservation in Inchelium, Washington— tops in taste in 1990. It has light-purple blotching on very large compound bulbs, with large outer cloves and medium cloves in the center. ‘Inchelium Red,’ like other artichoke types, is known for its adaptability to different growing zones, high productivity, and early maturity. This variety produces 12-16 cloves per bulb; stores well; and works for sautéing, making stir fries and soups, roasting, and pickling.