Garlic Varieties
Our garlic business was founded on a special purple variety grown by Graeme Ayton in Victoria. We named this turban variety GLAMOUR.
During the last 10 years we’ve tested many different varieties. But most don’t get past my kitchen and friends.
In 2017 we’ll be selling three different garlics.
PRELUDE – available October
We love this garlic because it’s the first to be harvested after winter. This softneck garlic is in the Artichoke group (yes, very confusing as it has nothing to do with artichokes). This is a strong, hot garlic. A little goes a long way when fresh. It keeps better than the Glamour and White, but the cloves are smaller, and it’s never as sweet when baked. The purple/pink skins are also harder to remove.
GLAMOUR – available November
I fell in love with this garlic because the clove size is generous, the skins are easy to peel, but most of all, because it was sweet as sweet when baked and not too strong on the stomach when freshly crushed.
The purple colour of the outer skins varies from year to year, for reasons we don’t understand. But the clove skins are always purple/brown regardless. This is a rich, complex not too sulphurous garlic that ever kitchen should have in summer.
WHITE – available December
This was first tested when we were doing braids. We thought it was a softneck, but then one year, up popped the scapes. Its shape looks almost identical to Glamour. It’s a creamy white colour with an identical clove formation as Glamour, but it always finishes later than Glamour. Sometimes it develops a pink, soft mauve colour on the outer skins. Clove size is big and skins are easy to peel. Delicious when baked.