Gourmet Garlic: Hardneck vs. Softneck Garlic

Reader Contribution by Andrea Cross
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When perusing the gourmet garlic at your local Farmers Market you may notice that the bulbs, although often bearing a cultivar name such as ‘Music’ or ‘Inchelium Red,’ tend to be of two distinct types: those that have a stiff stalk attached to the bulb, and those that do not.

Classifying Garlic

In the early 1990s, Ron England proposed that garlic be separated into two subspecies based on their ability to bolt. Bolting strains were classified as Allium sativum subsp. ophioscorodon and non-bolting as Allium sativum subsp. sativum. Later research proved that classifying garlic was much more complicated (for a comprehensive overview, please refer to The Complete Book of Garlic by Ted Jordan Meredith), however the rough separation originally proposed by England is still popular, although less formally and more commonly referred to as ‘hardnecks’ and softnecks’.

hardneck garlic

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