how to id korean red

[tjg911]

i just found out there are 2 different garlic that are both named korean red! my kr has good garlic flavor but is not extremely hot but it is not mild imo.

so one kr is an asiatic variety here's the picture http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/images/csativum.jpg

the other "korean red" is also called "korean red hot" but it is a rocambole variety here's the picture http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/images/rocky.jpg

the asiatic picture is not a good one compared to the rocambole so i am wondering if there is any other description i can go by to id my korean red? if you read the description of both they sound pretty much the same.

description of the asiatic:
Harvests VERY early in season - stores about 5-6 months.
Asiatic garlics typically have six to eight cloves per bulb in a circular configuration around a central scape. They're generally large bulbs with fat cloves. The bulb wrappers are firm, tight and vivid with broad, bold purple stripes merging into areas of solid purple. A very strongly colored garlic. The clove covers are silky and a lovely golden tan with a rosy aura and tiny pink veins. It is one of the very first cultivars planted in the fall and the first harvested in the spring around here. The taste puts it in a class almost by itself.
When you first bite into a clove there is a beautiful pure garlic flavor that is utterly devoid of heat, so you begin to settle back and enjoy the marvelous flavor while waiting for the hotness to sear your mouth any second but it never comes. And after a minute or so, the rich garlickiness is replaced with a smooth warm aftertaste that just makes you feel good.
If you are looking for an early season garlic that harvests before any of the others and is great for raw eating and stores about six months from harvest at room temp., this one is for you.






description of the rocambole:
Korean Red is a generally a vigorous grower with large foliage that is dark green and results in a pretty good sized bulb. Being a Rocambole garlic, its flavor is very strong, hot and spicy and sticks around for a long time. From a growers perspective, it grows well in cold winter areas, but does poorly in warm winter areas, and usually grows healthy fairly uniform sized bulbs. It has thin bulb wrappers that have a lot of purple and brown in them.
I have a hard time deciding which hot garlic should be ranked where, but Korean Red Hot is certainly up there and I will just have to continue eating as many different ones as I can in an effort to improve. When I die, don't bother to bury me, just plant in the fall and water me, I'll probably sprout and grow.
Korean Red Hot usually has anywhere from 8 or 9 easy to peel cloves that are of good size, with no smaller inner cloves. The outer bulb wrappers are thin and flake off easily so it is not a very good storer, but no Rocambole is - through the fall and into winter. Great taste is their claim to fame, not long storage. For those up North who want to grow their own garlic it only takes a year or two to grow all you can eat. It harvests in early summer along with most of the other Rocamboles. Bulbs are usually over 2 1/2 inches in diameter and are of good size are grown primarily for their particularly rich flavor.


any sites where i can id mine more thoroughly? based upon the picture i think i have the rocambole variety but i'd like to be sure cuz that's just how i am!

thanks,

tom

[bloosquall]

Hey Tom,

I'll take a picture of my Asiatic Korean. Maybe you still have one of the scapes ? or recall what it looked like ? The Asiatic pods look way different that a Rocambole pod. I've seen Korean Red and Korean Mountian...isn't Korea sort of in the asia part of the world ?

[tjg911]

bloo,

well the scapes are long gone but show me a photo. how do they look different? longer beak? i cut scapes at the 3/4 to full curl point so i have no idea if it is a double curl.

here's a good description of my korean red. my kr are a small plant, i'm guessing about 18" on the low end to 24" on the high end, i'd guess they are 20-21" tall. they are the 1st hardneck to harvest. the bulb has a white outer paper wrapper and you can often see some of the reddish stripes on the cloves thru the wrapper but it is not blatantly obvious. when i peel the outer white wrapper down to the cloves the side that faces the hardneck is a dark reddish/maroon color and the outside of the clove is white with distinct vertical stripes that are the same color as the inside of the clove. i looked at 12-16 bulbs yesterday and by touch the bulbs all seem to have 6 cloves a few may have had 5 or 7. that alone makes me think asiatic based upon the description i read. yet the asiatic description says the flavor is mild and the rocambole is strong. while i would say that my kr is not as hot as my german red (a rocambole) when eaten raw by itself it is definitely not mild. it has strong garlic flavor but not a wicked burny flavor that can hurt your tongue like the german red has.

my other hardnecks (german red, german white) are 26-27" tall and my music are large about 34-36" tall. i never paid much attention to how the scapes curl or look.

does any of this help?

tom

[salix]

Tom, the description of your Korean Red sounds an awful lot like my Korean Purple ...

[tjg911]

yeah i looked at various "korean" named garlic online and there are many and they do look similar. i have no idea if this is korean red or whatever but that was the name i was told it was. now knowing that guy as little as i do i sometimes wonder if he missed the name and knowing it was korean something gave it the kr name... who knows.

but assuming it is kr i'm curious if it's the asiatic or rocambole variety.

did my descrition help you bloo? any news?

tom

[tjg911]

ok today i just took all the cloves off a kr bulb and there were 7 cloves not 5 or 6...

now i may have counted by feel incorrectly on all those bulbs and if so and these bulbs have 7+ cloves that would be leaning to the rocambole not asiatic. i never counted the cloves on the kr bulbs i have torn open for eating but from now on i will count the cloves once the wrapper is off the bulb.

bloo any info?

[bloosquall]

Sorry Tom, Been a little busy lately. I'll take a picture tonight of my Korean and send it to you direct.

-bloo

[korney19]

Tom, Korean RED is a rocambole. Korean HOT is an asiatic. Korean MAD DOG is an artichoke. Korean WILDFIRE is a purple stripe. All the others named Korean _____________ are all rocamboles.

Here's 3 years of Korean Red:

[tjg911]

mark,

the 1st picture looks most like mine, note the distinct red stripes under the white wrapper tho not every bulb has the striped this distinct. the color of the cloves looks like mine. i never grew korean red hot so i wonder how much hotter is it, rhetorically speaking that is. i think i mentioned this but the og farmer i got this from several years ago said it was korean red but he may have had the red hot and confused the names, i r4eally don't put a lot of faith in his ability to have the correct name tho he may have. i can't recall if asiatic types store the same time period as rocamboles and if they do then this is moot but my korean red fit the rocambole time frame for storage.