[ Our Home Page ] [ Online Catalog ] [ Garlic Overview ] [ 40 Varieties ] [ Growing Garlic ] [ Cooking with Garlic ] [ Chemistry of Garlic ] [ Garlic Pills & Oils, Etc. ] [ Health Benefits ] [ Links ] [ FAQ's ] [ How to Order ]
[ Sampler Assortments ]
[ Pickle & Preserve Garlic ]
[ Artichoke (Softneck) Garlics ]
[ Asiatic Garlics ]
[ Creole Garlics ]
[ Porcelain Garlics ]
[ Purple Stripe Garlics ]
[ Rocambole Garlics ]
[ Silverskin (Softneck) Garlics ]
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Porcelain garlics (ophios) may be the most
beautiful garlics of all and sometimes seem too beautiful to eat.
Their bulb wrappers tend to be very thick, luxuriant and parchment-like and tightly cover their few, but large, cloves.
The outer bulb wrappers are often very white to milky and light tan although some some, like Romanian Red, tend to some purple striping as you peel away the wrappers.
Their appearance tempts one to wonder whether they were sculpted by some great artist rather than something grown in the ground. There are no smaller cloves as most cloves are large and fat (four to eight per bulb), this makes them a great favorite with chefs.
Great eating garlic -
Great storing garlic - Great Health Benefits - Great growing garlic -
Porcelain garlics are unique in that the scapes they produce in the spring coil in all kinds of ways and resemble a bed of snakes before the scapes all straighten up and become vertical.
Other hardneck garlics form a characteristic fairly uniform pattern before straightening up, Rocamboles form a distinct double loop.
Porcelains have few but large cloves and this has limitations in that a large clove may be more than you want to use and sometimes a smaller clove might be preferred (Another reason to grow several kinds of garlic.) and also, you have to save back a larger percentage of your total crop for planting stock next year than you do with other varieties if you plant from cloves as most people do, though some plant bulbils that takes two full growing seasons to mature.
For those who want to grow their own garlic it takes a year or two longer to grow all you can eat. Porcelains harvest late in the season but well before the Silverskins.
Bulbs are usually over 2 1/2 inches in diameterand 3" bulbs are not unusual and are grown for primarily for their rich flavor and good storage capability.
Porcelain garlics are often more expensive than most other garlics partly because or their rarity and partly because the growers have to set aside a larger part of their crop for next seasons planting stock and for this reason many commercial growers prefer to grow varieties with more cloves per bulb so they can sell a higher percentage of their crop every year.
Higher wholesale price means higher retail price.
Recent DNA analyses of garlic by Dr. Gayle Volk of the USDA in Colorado and also Dr. Joachim Keller of the Plant Institute in Gaterslaben, Germany showed that cultivars of Porcelain garlics were more genetically similar to each other, though distinctly different, than any of the other groups of garlic.
Porcelains are all very richly flavored garlic with an earthy muskiness and generally hot strong tasting garlics with a few exceptions like Georgia Crystal and Music.
Porcelain garlics store longer than most other garlics, only the Silverskins store longer, if all are grown well.
Large fat strong cloves that are very long storing, it's hard to ask much more out of a garlic.
The Porcelains are the densest of all garlics and weigh more per unit of volume than the other kinds and research scientists say that makes it a superior medicinal garlic, especially the hotter ones.
There are lots of reasons to want to grow your own Porcelain garlics, especially if you like hot, strong garlics like Romanian Red (some think it is the strongest) or Wild Buff or Rosewood.
In our experience, Porcelains are very hardy garlic and will grow well in most of the USA, but get larger the further North they are grown. Even so, they do well in most areas of the South most years although they are "iffy" in Florida and South Texas and the warmer winter parts of California.
Clove covers tend to be somewhat longish and a golden brown color with distinctive vertical,
purplish streaks.
Georgian Crystal
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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Georgian Crystal is a large and beautiful porcelain garlic
with delightfully robust flavor but not very much hotness. If you want a richly flavored, long storing Porcelain that won't burn you out, this one's for you.
From a growers perspective, it is a large and healthy garlic to grow and appears to be relatively resistant to most of the diseases
that can affect garlic. It originated in the Republic of Georgia, the former Soviet republic between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.
An excellent garlic for raw eating and in pesto, salsa, etc.
Romanian Red
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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Romanian Red, like most porcelains is a large and beautiful garlic with rich robust flavor that is strong and has an aftertaste that lingers. The clove covers are a light brown streaked with purple From a growers perspective, it is a large and healthy garlic to grow and appears to be relatively resistant to most of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originated in Romania.
Georgian Fire
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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Georgian Fire, like most porcelains is a large and beautiful garlic with rich robust flavor that is strong and has an aftertaste that lingers. The clove covers are a light brown streaked with purple From a growers perspective, it is a large and healthy garlic to grow and appears to be relatively resistant to most of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originated in the Republic of Georgia.
German Stiffneck
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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German Stiffneck is an excellent Porcelain garlic popularized by John Spamer, a NY organic grower who is now retired but sold it both locally and mail order for years and developed a loyal following. German Stiffneck is very similar to German Extra-Hardy, German White and Northern White and is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic. These may all be the same garlic but grown in different places under different names. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green very hardy plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to many of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originally came from Germany with immigrants a couple of hundred years ago. German Stiffneck grows well in all but the most southerly states, where it grows fairly well in cooler winter/spring years but is marginal in years with early hot summers.
Rosewood
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
Rosewood is a not a particularly large garlic but is a beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time and can nearly be overpowering at times. From a growers perspective, it is a very good survivor and usually grows healthy and appears to be relatively resistant to most of the diseases that can affect garlic. It is one of those Porcelains that were formerly called Allium Longicuspis and still retains the ability to produce viable flowers, pollen and seed.
German White
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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German White, very is also known as German Extra-Hardy, Northern White and German Stiffneck is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic.
These are all the same garlic but grown in different places under different names.
Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time.
From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and
appears to be somewhat resistant to many of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originally came from Germany but grows well in all but the most southerly states, where it is marginal.
Being a Porcelain German White/ Extra Hardy stores a long time at room temp, aouund 10 months or longer.
Wild Buff
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
Wild Buff is a not a particularly large garlic but is a beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time and can nearly be overpowering at times. From a growers perspective, it is a very good survivor and usually grows healthy and appears to be relatively resistant to most of the diseases that can affect garlic. It is one of those Porcelains that were formerly called Allium Longicuspis and still retains the ability to produce viable flowers, pollen and seed.
Northern White
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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Northern White, very similar to German Extra-Hardy, German White, German Stiffneck and German Porcelain, is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic. These may all be the same garlic but grown in different places under different names. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to many of the diseases that can affect garlic. It originally came from Germany but grows well in all but the most southerly states, where it is marginal.
Music
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
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Music is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic similar to Northern White. Its flavor is very rich and musky, strong and robust and sticks around for a while. It's very popular for a reason. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to some of the diseases that can affect garlic. I'm not real sure just where Music originated, but it likes cold weather and can get quite large in good growing conditions.
Polish Hardneck
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
Polish Hardneck is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic similar to Northern White. Its flavor is rich and it has a searing punginess that sticks around for a long time. Good hot strong long storing garlic. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to many of the diseases that can affect garlic. It obviously originated in Poland and it likes cold weather and can get quite large in good growing conditions.
Zemo
Grows well in most states even some years in Warm Winter Areas, but will be marginal there in years with early hot summers.
Zemo is a large, beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic similar to German White. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time. From a growers perspective, it is a tall dark green plant and is a very good survivor, usually grows healthy and appears to be somewhat resistant to many of the diseases that can affect garlic. Zemo is another one of those great garlics that came from the Republic of Georgia and it likes cold weather and can get quite large in good growing conditions.
How Our Garlics are Grown
Usually our garlic is grown near Brownwood in central Texas. We live on a working cattle ranch and have several old family garden plots where our garlic is grown without the use of any toxic chemical pesticides or herbicides and in rotation with vegetables we grow for family use and sometimes the local farmers markets. Soon, we will devote more acreage for growing garlic in rotation.
This year we will offer some of the garlic we have grown (mostly for warm winter area gardeners) and for the fourth straight year, other sustainable and organic growers have made their finest produce available for us to sell. They all know to send me only their best, because I will neither buy nor sell any lesser quality garlic. Besides, I pay these growers their price and they are rightfully proud of their garlic. Those I continue to be impressed with are the ones I buy from. If our garlic isn't the best in the country, I'd like to find out what is, 'cause I would like to buy some of it.
Most of our growers are Certified Organic and are among the best available sources of Certified Organic Garlic
and we will happily fill your order with garlic from them at no extra cost if you ask for Certified Organic.
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[ Our Home Page ] [ Online Catalog ] [ Garlic Overview ] [ 40 Varieties ] [ Growing Garlic ] [ Cooking with Garlic ] [ Chemistry of Garlic ] [ Garlic Pills & Oils, Etc. ] [ Health Benefits ] [ Links ] [ FAQ's ] [ How to Order Garlic ]
[ Sampler Assortments ]
[ Pickling & Preserving Garlic ]
[ Artichoke (Softneck) Garlics ]
[ Asiatic Garlics ]
[ Creole Garlics ]
[ Porcelain Garlics ]
[ Purple Stripe Garlics ]
[ Rocambole Garlics ]
[ Silverskin (Softneck) Garlics ]
Our site is always under construction. --This page last updated March 2, 2008. If you would like to communicate with us, please send email to:
Bob
Our website has been visited over two million times by people seeking great gourmet garlic and current information since August, 1997.
Thanks to one and all.