Sierra Vista Farms

Delhi, Colorado

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Planting Garlic at SVF Garlic Information
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Types:   Softneck and Hardneck.

Softneck garlic is the type sold in most grocery stores.   The central stem is very fibrous and therefore "soft", allowing them to be braided into bunches.   Softneck garlics rarely produce seed heads and must be propagated from cloves.   It can be grown in most climates except the most severe.

The two most common varieties are California Early and California Late.   About eighty percent of all grocery store garlic is now grown in China.   These garlics have many cloves, up to 20 per bulb.   The outside cloves are medium in size while the inside cloves are a pain to peel and are many times just discarded!

Softneck garlic has the classic garlic taste; ranging from mild to hot and spicy; depending upon the growing conditions.   (In Eastern Europe and Asia Hardneck garlics are the standard; with the same range in taste and heat.)   Some Softnecks can be eaten raw in salsa and salads; others are too strong and need to be cooked.

If you read the label of most dehydrated garlic you'll see "source: China & USA".   The garlic is grown in China and processed in the USA!

Hardneck garlics are just that; they have a central stem that stands erect and dries stright and hard.   These garlics aren't usually braidable.   I say usually because there is a grower in New Mexico that sells braids of Hardneck garlic bulbs at the Santa Fe Farmers Market. The grower (and braider) is Avrum Katz (on our "Favorites" list) and I can't figure out how he does it!   Hardneck garlics produce what looks like seed heads; but they don't produce seed.   What they produce are "bulbils" (miniature bulbs) that can be planted and will produce "bulbs" in 2 or 3 years.   The first year, bulbils only grow into "rounds", (like one clove).   Most Hardneck garlics produce between 20 and 40 bulbils per stock ("scape").   Planting bulbils is a rapid way of increasing a Hardneck garlic variety; it just takes patience.

A major advantage of Hardneck garlic is the number and size of their cloves. Clove count ranges from 4 to 10 or 12. A small Hardneck garlic bulb may contain only 4 cloves; making for easy processing in the kitchen.   But it also means the farmer will only grow 4 bulbs for the one harvested this year.   Hardneck garlics come in a wide range of flavors.   Just like Softnecks they range from very mild to hot and spicy!   Good descriptions of garlic flavors can be found in seed catalogs.  One of the best sources is Seed Savers (also on our "Favorites" list).

Origin:   There are wild garlics ("allium" family) growing in North America.   They are insignificant and not of commercial value.   Many of our favorite garlics (both Softneck and Hardneck) were brought to America and the real sources have been lost.   We do know that many of the most popular Hardnecks come from Eastern Europe and Asia.   Garlic was a trade item in ancient Persia; which spread it across the known World.   In Eastern Europe (the old USSR) we are still finding what we think are new types of garlic.

Storage:   NEVER STORE GARLIC IN A REFRIGERATOR!   The garlic will sprout and start growing putting an end to it's dormant condition.   Softneck garlics usually store longer than Hardnecks.   Each variety of garlic has it's own storage length until the cloves start to dry up or spoil.   A cool (40 to 50 degrees) area with low to medium humidity is ideal.   Under ideal conditions your garlic should store for up to 6 months.   There is an easy way to preserve garlic:   Peel the cloves and store them in White Distilled Vinegar.   We use this process in our own home and the garlic will last for upto 16 months.   Even if a clove does go "soft" it can still be used in cooking.   It's not bad!   It's just pickled!   The vinegar doesn't effect the flavor of the garlic.   If you have a dehydrator this is also a great way to preserve garlic.   Simply slice the garlic and dehydrate on "low" temperature setting.   It is believed that high temperature drying may destroy some of garlic's nutritional value.   When dehydrating garlic and you think it's dry; let it dehydrate for another few hours.   Any moisture in the dehydrated galic will cause it to harden in it's container.   After the dehydration process is complete the "chips" can be ground in a coffee bean grinder.   We have a coffee grinder reserved for garlic.   We like coffee and we like garlic; but not together.  

New Information:   In the Fall of 2007 we tried something different; we dehydrated "whole" cloves (over 30 pounds of the smaller ones not planted).   These cloves took longer to dehydrate than slices of cloves, but dried just fine.   (This really saved a lot of processing time and MESS, because fresh cloves contain a lot of garlic oil.)   We even left the final "covers" on the cloves during the drying process.   The covers "popped" off the dehydrated cloves very easily.   The dried cloves can then be stored and "ground" a cup or two at a time as needed (resulting in a fresher and STRONGER garlic flavor).


Sierra Vista Farms Inc., 39950 Bear Springs Trail, Delhi, Colorado 81059
Hardneck Garlic (Music, Bogatyr, Spanish Roja)   Softneck Garlic (Italian Purple)
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email: sierravistafarms@yahoo.com       Free Shipping
Last update:   March 22, 2008