Wal Mart Organic Garlic
 

I was checking out the garlic for possible use as seed garlic to supplement my stock. The loose bulk garlic was white and certainly not spectacular, but another customer showed me a package of organic garlic over near the shallots. WOW that is purple! Any guesses as to what variety this might be? A two pack is $1.99.

Probably purple from all the chemicals it sucked up in China.
No I have seen this garlic before but much less now than before.

The high price of garlic is due to protectionism here in the US.

I can't see clearly through the bag. It might be a Russian variety or Mexican.

It is a product of Mexico so it almost has to be a soft neck garlic.

Worth

A wild guess would be Inchelium garlic.

[QUOTE=Worth1;665939]It is a product of Mexico so it almost has to be a soft neck garlic.

Worth[/QUOTE]

I grew a purple hard neck from Mexico last year and planted more of it yesterday. If it is hard or soft it will have either a hard or soft stem showing in the middle?

I've only grown hard necks and its clipped so close to the body that it's hard for me to tell what type the stalk was.

Growing Coastal, did the garlic of Mexican origin form a good sized head for you last year? Do you have enough chill to grow a hard neck?

I'll snap a photo out of the bag tomorrow.

- Lisa

I always plant store garlic. But It has to be good, with mostly big cloves. Some have zillions of tiny cloves inside. Last year the first thing that I planted in my new garden was 18 garlic cloves. That was some time around Thanksgiving. They turned out the best garlic that I have ever grown. This year I will plant about 100 cloves.
Still two more months til planting time.

spanish roja? it is a purple skinned hardneck variety.

My local supermarket sells a variety that looks a lot like that every now and then, also from Mexico. I've purchased it before and it was nothing special compared to the hardnecks I've grown.

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;665985]I've only grown hard necks and its clipped so close to the body that it's hard for me to tell what type the stalk was.

Growing Coastal, did the garlic of Mexican origin form a good sized head for you last year? Do you have enough chill to grow a hard neck?

I'll snap a photo out of the bag tomorrow.

- Lisa[/QUOTE]

Yes, enough winter to grow good garlic as long as it is up out of the wet. I now grow mine in pots. The local nurseries sell mainly hard necks to plant out.
The Mexican was about the same size as the German Red and Russian Purple stripe on the table in the image below all about 2" across. At the right, front, there are for I am calling a giant Russian purple which is larger, a locally grown variety I bought at the grocery store. I think it is the Mexican beside and behind them. They would all likely get bigger in the ground but I have too little space and too many tree roots.
[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/EKd9PiG.jpg[/IMG]

Very nice, Growing Coastal ! I like to grow the hot and spicy garlic, not how I like my peppers though. Before I got my seed stock mixed up, Music was my favorite.

Here is another photo of the organic Wal Mart packaged garlic. I haven't tried it yet. Is anyone finding this in their store? It is on a shelf away from the regular bulk garlic. If it works out it will be a find for a dollar a bulb.

Someone purchased garlic via mail and received a shipment with mites. Could someone please find this thread. I want to be on the lookout and I can't seem to locate the information.

Photo below is a little off color. The table is actually lighter in color and the garlic a deeper purple - Lisa

I sense a bias against white garlic? How did that happen? Here it's quite highly regarded (and it's usually quite good too).

[QUOTE=greenthumbomaha;666061]Very nice, Growing Coastal ! I like to grow the hot and spicy garlic, not how I like my peppers though. Before I got my seed stock mixed up, Music was my favorite.

Here is another photo of the organic Wal Mart packaged garlic. I haven't tried it yet. Is anyone finding this in their store? It is on a shelf away from the regular bulk garlic. If it works out it will be a find for a dollar a bulb.

Someone purchased garlic via mail and received a shipment with mites. Could someone please find this thread. I want to be on the lookout and I can't seem to locate the information.

Photo below is a little off color. The table is actually lighter in color and the garlic a deeper purple - Lisa[/QUOTE]

Mites this may be of help;
[url]http://www.science.oregonstate.edu/bpp/Plant_Clinic/Garlic/Mites.pdf[/url]

The garlic may be a softneck of the artichoke family some times they bolt and have a stem that looks like a hardneck. The clove on the out side can happen in an artichoke.

I picked thru the packages for the largest bulbs and selected this duo. Next time I think of it I'll pick up another package and break open a bulb for tasting and looking. I'm surprised that it isn't commonly sold in every Walmart since the origin is Mexico.

As to the mites, I've been examining bulbs in stores and I have seen brown on the wrapper but not the bulb as described in the link above. Of course I haven't peeled the clove to see if it is just superficial. I haven't seen damage to the bulb either. I have also seen the brown streaked wrapper on reputable certified disease free garlic from a highly reputable seller.

I don't know what to make of this.

- Lisa

[QUOTE=zipcode;666144]I sense a bias against white garlic? How did that happen? Here it's quite highly regarded (and it's usually quite good too).[/QUOTE]

I like that complex spicy aftertaste that is not in common store garlic. I associate white with that boring stuff but if you know of any knock your socks off whites please tell!

- Lisa

I planted all but one bulb of this Wal Mart mystery two weeks ago. The remaining bulb waiting for a spot in the marginal bed has started to sprout. None of my saved garlic sprouted so I am little concerned about what may be happening to the bulbs already planted. If it was still decent weather I would dig those rows up, but I don't have time to fiddle going backwards. I still have a few more good bulbs to plant.

Maybe I will do what you did, GrowingCostal. I tried garlic in a grocery frosting bucket but it turned out scrawny. How large are your containers?

- Lisa

Container sizes for my garlic are from 5 gal to 2 gal. I need to make sure they can drain all the rain during the winter. A friend plants hers in large storage containers and gets great results.

Here, the WalMart loose garlic is a mix of softneck (most) and hardneck (very few). The "white" hardneck didn't survive the winter, just a few of the "purple" hardneck ones did.

I didn't see any hardneck in the bulk bin here. While I was looking through the bin examining the necks, a nice customer came over and informed me that she had bought moldy garlic there. She recommended the nicely packaged organic purple product. I was pretty surprised when she showed me a basket that was in a small bookshelf like an endcap with other small items piled on top of it. It was very easy to miss, and they only had 4 packages.

Maybe a year ago I saw this striking purple garlic one time only in the bulk bin. It attracted my attention as being very upscale for WalMart especially for the low price. I wonder if they just opened some of the organic baggies and used them to replace ordinary California type bulk product they were out of or pulled. I have three bulbs planted and one still left. Bummer that it didn't have a good survival rate in a cold area. I'll just eat the remaining bulb.

- Lisa

I have already bought close to 2 1/2 lbs from WM.they are real good with nice big cloves (except fea small ones inside. I dont plant those.). I intend to plant about 100 cloves. Last year I planted just 18 and they were real good.
Now i am debating planting time. It is still bit warmer for garlic right now.

Our Publix store had a terrific purple garlic from Spain for a few months. It was quite pungent and had a nice smooth strong flavor. I wish I had bought more and planted a few cloves to see how it performed here. I haven't grown garlic for years because it is so hard to dry it properly here due to our extremely high humidity. I might be able to dry it in my shed now since I have a small air conditioner installed in it.

Bill

Our fresh garlic is almost a dollar a head I find this prohibitive and wont buy it.

Worth

This strain tasted very garlicky but didn't have a hot bite. It might go well in a dish like string beans or something where it won't compete for flavor. Any suggestions are welcome.

- Lisa

[QUOTE=Worth1;670831]Our fresh garlic is almost a dollar a head I find this prohibitive and wont buy it.

Worth[/QUOTE]

I paid close to 4 bucks per pound. They were roealnice big hard neck. Unlike some the inside clove had decent size too. But I kept those for cooking. And planted w outer rows. With the weather coolinddown, the should sprout quickly

Organic tefers to growing method and has nothing to do with the henetics. So for planting it does not really matter

Chinese or USA Garlic?
 

Thanks to this thread I decided to grow some garlic this year. So while I was at Wally World I bought some garlic to plant. There was only one choice as the loose garlic shelf was wiped out. So I bought the 1.25 pound bag from Spice World. Looked really nice. 3.89 I think.

I start reading about how to plant it and then I find out most of our garlic is now imported from China. It says the garlic from China is inferior to the garlic grown here, so buying from Walmart I assumed it was from China. Looked on the bag and it said Product of USA. I am still not convinced, so I search and find this.

It is really easy to tell. The garlic from China has no roots at all, basically bare on the bottom. So I went back and looked again and to my relief this garlic still had the roots.

Here is the article, also proves that stuff from China is labeled USA in the supermarkets. :shock:

[URL]https://californiamediterraneandiet.com/tag/how-to-recognize-chinese-garlic/[/URL]

Edit to say that this may have already posted somewhere. I do not read all the forums regularly.

ha, thanks for posting! Yeah, quality of garlic should be obvious. Gotta look around and see what is around although we had our frosts but soil still not frozen ...

Seaeagle, you will love locally grown garlic and will never go back to the bulk bin, I promise!
And yes, the pretty purple WM garlic has LOTS of roots still attached. Much more than the homegrown garlic that I dried and saved.

Once you pick up a little experience , you will probably want to expand on the varieties you grow. Local farmers markets are a great place. If it isn't too late to plant in your area, some online sellers are having sales. You can still get sampler packs of 3 cloves (not bulbs) for $1.99 at seedsnow.com.

The link you provided was from a protected blog and I was denied access. Good to know though.

- Lisa

The California garlic industry is heavily protected so the price can stay up.
The BS about the inferior garlic from China is just that BS.
Just part of the protectionist marketing lie game that has went on for centuries.
They said the same thing about steam powered ships to keep the clippers going.

Truly good garlic can only be grown at home or from a friend.