Porcelains are still relatively rare in North America, but are becoming much sought after as gardeners and garlic connoisseurs learn of their unique properties. Most Porcelains display satiny white bulb wrappers with only 4 to 6 symmetrical cloves per bulb. Their cloves are often as large as unshelled Brazil nuts and are frequently mistaken for Elephant Garlic.

Their flavor, however, is vastly superior, rivaling that of Rocamboles. Because of their smooth, tight bulb wrappers they store longer than Rocamboles. Their large cloves, while a boon in the kitchen, furnish fewer plants per pound of seed stock, producing smaller yields than other garlic varieties.

Georgian Crystal:  Large bulbs with 4 to 7 cloves. Clean white appearance. Beautiful fat cloves. Very mild and flavorful raw. Long storing.* This is our favorite garlic variety because it has such large cloves, grows well in our area and is one of the prettiest bulbs we grow.

 

 

Rosewood:  Soft colors on large fat cloves. Clean bulbs striking when large size. Long storing. From USSR.*

Romanian Red:  One of the few strains from this group introduced to North America a long time ago. Came to British Columbia from Romania. Cloves streaked and lined on buff brown background. Very good storage. Usually 4 to 5 cloves per bulb. Hot and pungent with a healthy, long lasting bite.*

Polish Hardneck:  A great strain that originated at the farm of Rick Bangert of Idaho. Originally from an Ontario grower named John Yovanov. Beautiful Porcelain bulbs and character. A very popular strain.*

(*All of these descriptions were used by permission from the Filaree Farm Web Site.  Special thanks to them and the book Growing Great Garlic by Ron Engeland)

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Last modified: September 07, 2008