Common Garlic (Allium sativum): The Kitchen Essential with Countless Varieties

Overview

Garlic (Allium sativum) is a bulbous perennial grown as an annual, cultivated for millennia for its pungent, flavorful cloves. It produces a central stem with flat, linear leaves and, in hardneck types, a curling scape topped with bulbils. Hundreds of cultivars exist, varying in clove size, number, flavor intensity, and storage life.

Botanical Details

• Family: Amaryllidaceae (formerly Alliaceae)
• Genus: Allium
• Species: sativum
• Synonyms: Allium controversum, A. longicuspis, A. ophioscorodon, A. pekinense, Porrum ophioscorodon

Growing Basics

Plant individual cloves in fall (cold climates) or early spring (mild climates), pointy end up, 2 inches deep, 6 inches apart in rich, well-drained soil. Full sun. Harvest when lower leaves yellow, cure in airy shade 2-3 weeks. Softneck types store longer; hardnecks produce scapes (edible) and have more complex flavors.