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Garlic Varieties

Hardnecks    Softnecks    Elephant    Scapes    Sizes   Choosing Your Varieties

Growing up, most of us see the garlic in the grocery store, and have no idea that there are many different varieties of garlic, with flavors ranging from mild to spicy. Once that knowledge is gained, it's exciting to experiment with the different garlic varieties while baking, stewing, roasting, etc.

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Likes Cold Weather    Likes Warm Weather    Grown Throughout

Best buy     Spicy   Mild Flavor

Hardnecks:		Comments/Tips
	German Red - Spicy 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 is hot and spicy, making it an excellent garlic for dehydrating to powder, or for those wanting to get all the garlic flavor possible from each clove. It can produce between 8 and 12 cloves per bulb. A Consistent Top Producer For Us!
	Siberian - 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. It loves cold weather, but grows well in a variety of areas. A Consistent Top Producer For Us!
	Brown Tempest - 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.
	Chesnok Red - 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.
	Italian Purple - 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. Widely grown in the Ohio Valley and Northeast, but grows in a variety of places.
	Stull - 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!
	Metechi – 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. 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!
	Spanish Roja – Beautiful, Easy-To-Peel Cloves! Starts with some heat, but it fades. Low odor. Pleasant aftertaste. Good enough to eat raw! Large, easy-to-peel cloves with some zing but gorgeous flavor make this one a favorite for garlic connoisseurs!
	Music – Large, Easy-To-Peel Cloves! This hardy garlic can produce very large bulbs with lasting flavor! It produces 4 to 5 large, easy-to-peel cloves with the classic garlic flavor that excels in any recipe.
	Georgian Crystal - 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.
	Persian Star - 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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Softnecks:
	Inchelium Red - 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!
	Kettle River Giant - 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.
	Susanville - 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.
	Silver Rose - 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! 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.
	Lorz Italian - 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 flavor. Up to 5 clove layers with as many as 15-18 cloves.
	Siciliano - The name says it all...An old world artichoke softneck. The large, round bulbs have a cream-colored wrapper with purple streaking and large cloves. The flavor/heat is moderate and works perfectly for pasta, tomato sauces and olive oil. Long storage life.
	Polish White - 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. Nice, good-lookin' garlic! A Consistent Top Producer For Us!
	Sisters' Garden Grab Bag - 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. This grab bag will include nice stuff...never "throw away" garlic, but each grab bag will vary according to which nice bulbs catch our eye as we are packing the bag. A 1-pound bag will contain at least 4 different varieties.
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Elephant Garlic:
At right, a clove of Elephant next to a nice-sized clove of regular garlic.	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. Mulching with straw or grass clippings and keeping the soil relatively moist, even during the winter, promotes larger bulbs.
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Garlic Scapes
	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.  Buy for the 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   Choosing Your Varieties    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. Elephant's individual cloves are huge, as are many other garlic varieties such as Polish White, Metechi, Siberian, and many others. See individual description above for more about how the varieties differ in size.

However, "size" can have a different meaning with 2 Sisters Garlic. Size can also mean "grade." 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 for the same price (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 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 Average. We do not offer our smallest bulbs for sale.

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Choosing Garlic Varieties

• Skim through the varieties listed on this page, above. Hardnecks and Softnecks are described, and photos provided.
   
• NEW! Then, visit our "in progress" Variety Picker to help you decide which varieties you'd like to try. The Variety Picker allows you to pick characteristics that are important to you (such as mildness or spiciness), and then see garlic varieties that might be good for that specific trait. The Variety Picker will open in a new window, leaving this window open in case you accidentally close the picker between looking at traits/characteristics.

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