There are over 600 named varieties (and counting) of garlic which are grouped into two main subspecies — ophioscorodon (hardneck) and sativum (soft neck) — and then typically further classified into the following ten major categories for types of garlic:
Hardnecks: Asiatic, Turban, Creole, Rocambole, Porcelain, Purple Stripe, Marbled Purple Stripe, and Glazed Purple Stripe.
Softnecks: Artichoke and Silverskin.
About Garlic
Types of Garlic
Asiatic Garlic
Asiatic garlic varieties are among the earliest harvesting garlics and mature similar to onions — getting big and maturing very quickly…
Turban Garlic
Turban garlic is very similar to Asiatic and it is also one of the earliest harvesting garlics. They have very large cloves and fewer…
Creole Garlic
Creole garlics share many traits with Asiatics and Turbans and are some of the prettier garlics as far as appearance and striking colors…
Rocambole Garlic
Rocambole garlics aren’t the prettiest garlic around when it comes to visual appearance but they more than make up for it with their flavor…
Porcelain Garlic
Porcelain garlics are one of the most popular gourmet garlics and are also some of the prettiest as far as physical appearance…
Purple Stripe Garlic
Classifying Purple Stripe garlics can be a little hard, as some lump them all together while others keep Marbled Purple Stripes and Glazed…
Marbled Purple Stripe Garlic
Marbled Purple Stripes tend to have darker colors than standard ones and usually fewer cloves and a hotter taste…
Glazed Purple Stripe Garlic
Glazed Purple Stripes have bulb wrappers that look almostglossy, with the standard bold flavor of all Purple Stripes…
Artichoke & Silverskin Garlic
Artichoke garlics are softneck garlics that get their name from the way their cloves are arranged, as they have several overlapping layers…
WHAT IS GARLIC?
Garlic grows underground in the form of a bulb. (its long green shoots produce flower stalks called scapes, which can be eaten.) Covered in an inedible papery skin, the bulb, or head as it is more often referred to, is comprised of individual sections called cloves, and there can be anywhere from 10 to 20 cloves per head. These cloves are themselves enclosed in a paper like skin, which needs to be removed, and the pale yellowish flesh within is the part of the garlic that is used in cooking and can be cut in a variety of ways.
Garlic, which is inexpensive, is generally used as a flavoring ingredient in recipes rather than as the main ingredient itself. An exception to this is roasted garlic, which can be eaten as a spread or condiment.
WHAT DOES GARLIC TASTE LIKE?
When eaten raw, garlic has a powerful, pungent flavor. For that reason, it’s customary to cook it in some way before serving it, which mellows the flavor considerably. Roasting garlic changes the flavor and texture significantly, resulting in creamy cloves with a nutty, mild taste.