Japanese
- A rich yet mellow Asiatic Garlic.
- Harvests VERY early - late spring to early Summer - stores until around November-December.
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.
Typical of Asiatic garlics when bitten into raw, Japanese starts off rich with flavor but devoid of warmth, much less heat but after about 10 seconds a wave of warmth starts at the back of the mouth and spreads toward the front and intensifies as it comes on until it becomes very hot, levels off for about 30 seconds and gradually subsides into a mellow aftertaste that that makes you feel good inside and out and puts a warm smile on your face and a feeling of warm satisfaction in your soul.
NOTE: None of the growers in our farmers market currently have this cultivar for sale.