Russian Redstreak
- A rare early season mild garlic.
Russian Redstreak has evolved from a Rocambole garlic, Russian Red, according to Ron Engeland. If so, it is one of the few garlics that are related to Rocamboles that does well for us in our growing conditions. They tend to be streaked lightly with purple and are very early maturing garlics that must be pulled out of the ground before they get overly mature and split open the bulb wrappers. The Asiatic group still produce a seed stalk (scape) even though they're softnecks. They often have some large dark purple bulbils on their necks. These bulbils are truly beautifully colored. Failing to remove the scapes does not seem to harm bulb size very much. They are slightly smaller than Red Toch on the average and about the size of Chet's but with more color. They are supposed to be rather sharp tasting but they have been delightfully mild and full flavored with only a little heat for us in our climate.
They are a productive garlic, store very well, present a nice appearance and have an excellent raw flavor. If you want a very early maturing garlic that can be grown almost anywhere in the country and is a prolific reproducer, try a few of these jewels from Moscow.