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Hardneck Seed Garlic: |
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Organic German Red
Garlic -
Flavorful and Aromatic! A large plant with tall
scapes (a delicacy in June!).
German Red can produce large bulbs with some red color in the
wrapper. The cloves have a brownish skin. The taste raw is not too hot and
not too spicy...and yet not mild. Roasted German Red loses its
heat and becomes mild, leaving a warm garlic flavor behind. It has a "middle of the road"
garlic flavor, making it an excellent garlic for dehydrating to
powder, or for those wanting to get all the garlic flavor
possible from each clove without being overpowered. It can produce between
6 and 12 cloves per bulb.
Contact
us about a discount for a 50-pound A Consistent Top Producer For Us! |
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Organic Siberian
Garlic -
Our Supermodel! This large-bulbed purple striped
variety "has its roots" in Siberia (yes, pun intended!). It is
as beautiful as it is tasty. It grows strong plants, with just
a few very large cloves. The clove skins are dark brown, but
the insides are creamy white with LOTS of heat when eaten raw.
Roasted/cooked Siberian has A++ aroma and a slightly "wild"
flavor that is not hot. It loves cold
weather, but grows well in a variety of areas. A Consistent Top Producer For Us! |
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Organic Brown Tempest Garlic - Long-lasting storage! A hardneck with a mottled purple wrapper. The brown-skinned cloves have some real garlicy punch. Eaten raw, the cloves have a fiery flavor which mellows to a pleasing aftertaste. A little goes a long way. One bulb produces about a half dozen large cloves. Stores longer than many hardnecks. |
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Organic Chesnok Red Garlic - Versatile Flavor and Size! This hardneck produces large bulbs with purple striped wrappers. It is superb for cooking, offering a flavorful and lingering taste for the garlic connoisseur. Chesnok Red produces 5-10 easy-to-peel cloves per bulb. This one may have originated in Georgia (Asia) where it is known as Shevlisi. Grows nationwide and is a great all-around variety. |
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Fireball, Certified Naturally Grown -
Named for its purple wrapper and its rich flavor.
Don't judge it by its name! :-) Eaten raw, Fireball produces a little bit of initial heat that quickly reduces to a nice flavor with wonderful aroma without the heat. Likewise, the aroma is tops during roasting/cooking. Roasted Fireball has a RICH garlic flavor without heat. Fireball's history is unknown but rumored to have begun in Poland. It is a good choice for seasoning soups, potatoes, or meats. Matures mid to late season. Fireball averages 7-8 red-skinned cloves, with most bulbs between 1 1/2-2" in diameter. |
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Organic Italian Purple Garlic - Classic Italiano! The perfect-flavored Italian hardneck, also called Gambino and "Easy Peel." It produces large bulbs with easy-to-peel cloves that are perfect for Mediterranean cooking. Roasted Italian Purple has a mild but nice garlic flavor that lingers. Widely grown in the Ohio Valley and Northeast, but grows in a variety of places. |
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Organic Stull Garlic - Fire! Stull was discovered at a Saugerties, NY garlic festival. Stull is nearly a porcelain, although the wrappers do have a faint gold/beige tinge. Large plump, easy-to-peel cloves which contain some heat! |
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Organic Metechi
Garlic –
Lori’s favorite! AKA Metichi. This fiery little bulb is packed with high-powered garlic
flavor. This purple stripe hardneck probably originated in the Republic of
Georgia. The bulbs produce a few very plump cloves which store
well. While it often may not be over 2" at its largest, it is beautiful...if there were a garlic beauty pageant,
Lori thinks this one would walk out wearing the sash and
crown.
A Consistent Top Producer For Us! |
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Organic Spanish Roja
Garlic – Beautiful,
Easy-To-Peel Cloves! Good enough to eat raw! Starts with some heat when eaten raw, but it fades. Low odor. Pleasant aftertaste and aroma. When roasted, Spanish Roja is mild and sweet with little aroma. Spanish Roja can become HUGE when cultivated in your garden. Large, easy-to-peel cloves with gorgeous flavor make this one a favorite for garlic connoisseurs! |
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Music
Garlic, Certified Naturally Grown – Large, Easy-To-Peel Cloves! This hardy garlic can produce very large bulbs with lasting flavor! When eaten raw, Music is a very hot-flavored garlic. However, cooked/roasted Music loses its heat and offers a lasting garlic flavor with a hint of sweetness. It produces 4 to 5 large, easy-to-peel cloves with the classic garlic flavor that excels in any recipe.
Contact us about a discount for a
50-pound Note that orders for Music received July 19 or later will be filled with Certified Naturally Grown garlic. We have run out of our Music that is both CNG and Certified Organic. |
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Organic Georgian Crystal Garlic - Beautiful! A pretty porcelain-white variety that can produce large bulbs but only with a half dozen or so large cloves. The wrapper is eye-appealing and white in color. This variety may have the highest level of allicin, which is the chemical in crushed garlic that helps lower cholesterol, increases circulation and boosts the immune system. Georgia Crystal is mild when eaten raw or cooked. It is also a top-storing hardneck. |
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Organic Persian Star Garlic - Popular! This beautiful purple-striped hardneck has a rich garlic flavor. The large cloves have red tips. Persian Star is an up-and-coming US favorite! Persian Star originated in the 1980s via a bazaar in Uzbekistan. |
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Organic Romanian Red Garlic - Coming soon! This porcelain garlic is beautiful with rich robust flavor that has a lingering aftertaste. The clove skins are light brown streaked with purple. This is a large and healthy garlic to grow, though will be at its largest if weeds are not in competition for space. It stores well, and averages 4 or 5 cloves per bulb. |
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Organic German Extra Hardy Garlic, New for 2011. (hardneck) Easy to grow! This porcelain isn't too hot, having a strong and robust and sometimes described as a "sweet" flavor. German Extra Hardy produces large bulbs with 4-5 large cloves. It is a vigorous variety with long roots that give it the ability to over-winter without heaving. Stores well. |
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Organic Killarney Red Garlic, New for 2011. (rocombole hardneck variety) The bulbs are large and easy to peel, making them a favorite in our kitchen. Averages 9-10 cloves per bulb. Better adapted to wet conditions than most garlics. Its only drawback is frequency of double cloves, which doesn't bother us for flavoring foods. |
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Organic Red Rezan Garlic, New for 2011. (Glazed Purple Stripe) The bulb's color is a dark glazed purple with a tinge of gold. Strong lasting flavor that packs some heat, but is not terribly hot and it has little aftertaste. This is one of the best garlics for cooking. Originally from south Moscow (Republic Of Russia). It prefers a very cold climate for the best yields. Averages 7 cloves per bulb. Stores 5 months. |
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Organic Zemo Garlic, New for 2011. (Porcelain) This is a large bulbed variety with cloves that are well streaked outside but soft brown-pink with lines on the inside. When eaten raw, the taste is strong, but pleasant with no aftertaste. Originally from Republic of Georgia. A popular garlic with cooks, as it tastes good! Zemo has a high content of allicin. A spicy garlic flavor with moderate heat. Averages 4 to 5 large cloves per bulb. Late harvest. Stores 5 months. |
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Softneck Seed Garlic: |
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Organic Inchelium Red Garlic - Our favorite softneck! Its spicy but prolonged taste won the 1990 garlic tasting test at Rodale Kitchens. The flavor builds over time. Originally found growing in the Colville Indian Reservation, it is an "artichoke" softneck. The bulbs can be LARGE, sometimes 3 inches across, and can have up to 20 cloves. It shucks easily, and although it can have many cloves, their sizes are surprisingly uniformly large. Stores well! |
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Organic Kettle River Giant Garlic - Flavorful and Heirloom! This artichoke softneck can become massive in size, up to four inches at times. It has been a long-time heirloom garlic grown in the Pacific Northwest. Cold winters are not a problem for Kettle River Giant. The wrappers are a beige-white with pink overtones. It produces 8 to 15 cloves. It also stores well. Rich on taste with a medium heat makes this another favorite softneck. |
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Organic Susanville Garlic - Versatile! This is a large softneck that matures a little earlier than most, so plant it where you can watch it grow. Cold winters are not a problem at all for this variety. The clove skins have a pretty purplish tone. The flavor is pronounced, perfect for sausages and roasts. |
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Organic Silver Rose Garlic - Da Bomb! Silvery skin, artichoke variety, fantastic shelf life! Silver Rose is one garlic that has it all. Each bulb will have some large and some small cloves that contain some heat but aren't on fire or overwhelming. We've had as many as 34 cloves on one bulb! The cloves range in size, including some smaller ones for those that want some garlic flavor, but not a huge clove. If you want garlic that will store for a long time so you don't run out long before the next crop, check into Silver Rose. An 8 or 9 month shelf life is not unusual for this one. |
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Lorz Italian
Garlic, Certified Naturally Grown -
Heat-loving! A softneck that was imported from Italy
during the late 19th century to the Columbia River Basin area
where it is widely grown. Grows well in hot summers, which
provides it with a bit of heat, as it has a very robust, but
true garlic
flavor. Up to 5 clove layers with as many as 15-18 cloves.
Contact us about a discount for a
50-pound |
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Organic Siciliano Garlic - The name says it all...An old world artichoke softneck. The large bulbs have a cream-colored wrapper with purple streaking and large cloves. Siciliano has an A++ aroma when cooking. The flavor/heat is moderate and works perfectly for pasta, tomato sauces and olive oil. Long storage life. |
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Organic Polish White
Garlic -
Flavorful!
An old world artichoke softneck. The large, round bulbs have a cream-colored wrapper with a real punchy taste that is mild when fresh, and builds without heat as it is stored. Polish White also has large cloves compared to some other softneck varieties, making it easy to use. Polish White is one of the best varieties for dehydrating and making homemade garlic powder in our experience, as it makes a very fine-grained powder. We think pure Polish White powder or a mixture of Polish White and German Red garlic is far superior to the garlic powder you would buy in a grocery store. A Consistent Top Producer For Us! |
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Organic Transylvanian Garlic - Coming soon! This artichoke softneck has plump pretty-colored cloves with some heat. It stores well, tastes good, and even does well in cold winters! |
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Organic Sisters' Garden Grab Bag
of Garlic
- Variety for a Small Price! Fantastic for a gardener
that wants to grow garlic, and does not wish to buy large
quantities just to get a flavor variety. A grab-bag of flavor, this bit of variety gives you an opportunity to cabbage onto an organic garlic rainbow of taste. Our Hardneck Sampler and Softneck Sampler opportunities consist of four of our favorite hardnecks or softnecks, with about half a pound of each, for a total of two pounds of garlic. |
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Organic Elephant Garlic: |
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This Big Daddy has the largest bulbs and cloves of them all. It is
the king of the roasters. Some Elephant individual cloves are larger
than an egg! Elephant is the mildest of the garlics, and is actually closer to a leek than a garlic. Awesome for stews, roast vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes. Elephant grows well in most parts of the country. Since the bulbs will probably be larger than typical garlic, plant farther apart with a minimum of 6" between cloves. Mulching with straw or grass clippings and keeping the soil relatively moist, even during the winter, promotes larger bulbs. |
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Elephant Bulblets or Bulbils (also
incorrectly called korms): This is a fun way to gain some
elephant garlic for your garden! Bulbils (aka bulblets) are
seed-like growths found at the bottom of many elephant bulbs.
They can be left in the ground after harvesting elephant
garlic, or can be moved and replanted. Soaking the bulbils for
a few days, and even cutting/scoring a small slit in the
bulbil toward the bottom can improve germination rates. The
shoots may not emerge until spring or early summer, so don't
forget where you plant them! Plant the elephant bulbils this year, and expect to harvest "rounds" (large, round bulbs that have not yet formed multiple cloves per bulb) next year...although we have had some multi-clove bulbs form the first year from bulbils. Re-plant the "rounds," and harvest potentially VERY large bulbs of elephant the following year. |
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Garlic Scapes |
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Garlic Scapes - A Delicacy! In
early summer, some garlic varieties produce scapes, which we
remove to allow all the growth effort to be put into the bulb
for larger garlic cloves. But these scapes aren't a useless
byproduct of the garlic...they are a sought-after delicacy!
Available in June in Bedford and Blockton Iowa. Garlic
scapes can be used in soups, roasts, marinade, pastas, pesto,
stir fry, bread, sautéed with butter, etc. Garlic scapes have
a wonderful mild garlic flavor that enhances just about any
dish in addition to adding a little splash of color.
Buy enough for the whole year, as you can freeze them where they will keep for months! Toni thinks these are the best things since garlic monkey bread...which is what she uses them for! Check out our Garlic Scape Recipes page for this tasty wonder! |
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Hardnecks Softnecks Elephant Scapes Sizes Back to Top
Which Size Should You Buy?
Garlic varieties can vary quite a bit in size. For example, Elephant Garlic bulbs can reach sizes between baseball and softball dimensions in your garden. See individual descriptions on our Garlic Varieties page for more about how the varieties differ in size.
For example, let's look at one variety, such as German Red. Each year, German Red (and all varieties) has some huge bulbs, some medium bulbs, and a few small bulbs.
The largest of bulbs are obviously our "top grade,"
but the medium-sized bulbs are still awesome garlic!
A comparison of bulb size and weight, using German Red as an
example.
On the left is one pound of German Red, average-sized
bulbs.
On the right is one pound of German Red, large-sized
bulbs.
- The largest bulbs in each variety are recommended for planting if you
want your garden's harvest to consist of really large bulbs with
large cloves. The larger bulbs are
generally over 2" in diameter, although some are well over 3"
(depending upon variety). An example of large-sized bulbs is the
grouping on the right in the photo above.
- Average-sized bulbs (generally up to 2" in
diameter) are economical for those wanting more cloves (because our garlic is sold by weight,
and not by the number of the bulbs or cloves). If you want to plant in your garden
with the harvest consisting of average-sized to large-sized bulbs, the
smaller-sized bulbs may be better for you. An example of
smaller (average-sized) bulbs is the grouping on the left
in the photo above.
- Small-sized bulbs are the ones we eat here at home, as well as the average sizes. We do not typically offer the small bulbs for sale.
Our varieties are generally available in two sizes each year (the shopping cart allows you to select a size): Large and Medium.
Hardnecks Softnecks Elephant Scapes Sizes Back to Top
Choosing Your Varieties How Much Should You Buy? Which Size (Large or Average)?
Home Order Garlic Varieties About Garlic Articles About Us Blog
 2941 TayGold Ave Blockton, Iowa 712-621-9771 |
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| Lori Hansen lkahn@grm.net |
Toni Perdew tonip@frontiernet.net |