Quote:
Originally Posted by PureHarvest
Thanks for the info Megan.
Would you say they are at least equal to or better than the Chinese/California white softnecks in the grocery store?
Where did you get your original seed cloves?
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Hello again. The Chinese garlic that is sold in NZ are predominantly white bulbed silverskins, have not seen any other varieties. They tend to be relatively small bulbs and haven't knowingly ever used any nor actually purchased any so can't judge - we have good domestically grown garlic if I have to purchase any and been growing my own for the last 10 years or more. We do import US garlic and the California whites that I've seen appear to be artichokes which seem to be closely related to turbans although the artichokes store a bit longer. Flavour wise, the artichokes retain their heat more than the turbans that I grow and the turbans have larger bulbs and the clove configuration is more symmetrical. There are usually only 7 visible outer cloves with 3 or 4 inner layer of cloves in the turbans. The outer cloves are fat rounded wedges whereas the artichoke cloves are more flattened moon/crescent shaped. I was given a couple of turban bulbs years back and I have always allowed the scapes to mature (at least the ones that don't get eaten) and been growing out the bulbils ever since.