Garlic flavor nuances may be important or those that eat raw garlic and have developed their palate, but in cooking the differences get muted or lost. I have been to raw garlic tastings and after a couple of tastes my palate is on fire and useless. My wife and I consume a lot of garlic, like 300+ bulbs/year in canned sauces, cooking, and powder, so I go for large bulbs with large easy to peel cloves and good storage properties. My main crop is Music, followed by Russian Red and Estonian Red.
The taste and texture differences in tomatoes are much greater, although tastings with many varieties can still overwhelm my palate. Less than 10% of my tomatoes are eaten fresh and I grow Brandywine Sudduth for that purpose. The rest are canned, so I grow hearts and pastes with very few blemishes and imperfections to maximize yield into the pot. Once cooked with onions, peppers, garlic and herbs the tomato flavor nuances disappear.
Now wine is another story and I have developed my palate over the past 40 years for fine wines. For foods in general I prefer intensely flavorful dishes with varied textures that elicit moans with every bite. Life is too short to compromise on sensory pleasures!
