Americans have developed an enormous appetite for garlic.
And that demand has spurred an industry offshoot – gourmet garlic such as New York grower Keith Stewart’s, special varieties, like a large-cloved variety known as rocambole, that connoisseurs claim are to typical supermarket cloves as a great Gruyere is to processed cheese slices.
Though most garlic sold in mainstream grocers is the common so-called softneck variety – most of which comes from China and California – more consumers are seeking out the more distinct flavor of hardneck garlics.
“With the supermarket stuff, you don’t know how old it is, and it has a harshness you don’t find in rocambole,” says Kemp Minifie, executive food editor at Gourmet magazine. Hardnecks are “juicier, the flavor is better.” Just as consumer appreciation has allowed the artisanal cheese business to flourish, garlic is now having its day.
During the past 20 years, per capita consumption of garlic has gone from less than a pound to 2 1/2 pounds, according to the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture attributes the growth in part to the rising popularity of ethnic foods.
Sporting fewer, but larger, cloves than softneck garlics, hardneck varieties (the name refers to their stiff stems, something that has been bred out of softnecks) are grown throughout the country.
But to find it, you’ll probably have to look at farmers markets or shop online.
Bob Anderson, a retired management consultant from Bangs, Texas, started his GourmetGarlicGardens.com website in 1997 to sell hardneck garlic for as much as $16 to $24 a pound.
During those first years, he sold a couple hundred pounds a year. Today he sells about a ton, and says people are drawn to the “beautiful, rich garlicness and rich warmness and pungency” of the hardneck varieties.
Though he grows some of his own, most of the garlic Anderson sells comes from a few dozen small farmers around the country, many of whom are in remote areas with no local market for their crop.
A common myth about hardnecks is that there are hundreds of varieties. This is because genetically identical cloves will produce dramatically different flavors and textures depending on the climate, soil and other variables of where they are grown.
But new research has revealed that in the U.S. only 10 genetically distinct hardnecks and two softnecks are grown.
Among those 10 (which include Stewart’s rocambole, as well as purple stripe and silverskin), porcelain is one of the more popular varieties. Known for its thick, parchment-like wrappers and large, plump cloves, it is sold under various names, including Georgia Crystal, Georgia Fire and Romanian Red.
“It is not the taste so much that is distinctive, but how they cook up, their texture and taste retention,” says Naomi Scanlon, who, along with her sister runs Two Sisters Garlic, a Canterbury, N.H., company that grows and sells seven to eight varieties of hardneck a season.
Of course, gourmet or otherwise, some aspects of garlic remain the same. And fans such as Anderson make no apologies.
“The age of designer garlic breath has arrived,” he says.
Prep’s important
The staff at Cook’s Illustrated magazine tested five varieties of hardneck garlic and concluded that rocambole and porcelain were the tastiest. But they also determined that preparation played a big role in making the most of garlic flavor, said Jack Bishop, editorial director. His advice:
The more finely garlic is minced, the stronger its flavor.
Use a garlic press, which breaks down the garlic fully, thus releasing the most flavor.
Or use a knife to mince the garlic, then sprinkle it with salt. Turn the knife on its side, press the garlic into a paste.
