Music Hardneck Porcelain Garlic - Sustainably Grown

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Music Hardneck Porcelain Garlic - Sustainably Grown

Allium sativum Similar to German Extra Hardy, with large succulent cloves. Al Music brought this Porcelain type from Italy to Ontario in the 1980s, where it became known as a very good cold-climate variety. Bakes up wonderfully. 20-30 cloves per pound.

Z3-8. Eco-grown in Maine.

Also available as certified-organic seed stock.

ECOThis item is sustainably grown


6231 Music - Sustainably Grown
Item Discounted
Price
A: 3 bulbs for $15.30   
Ordering closed for the season
B: 2 lb for $47.70   
Ordering closed for the season
C: 10 lb for $180.00   
Ordering closed for the season

Additional Information

Porcelain Garlic

This hardneck type produces 3–6 very large cloves with tight porcelain-white skins. Excellent storage. Huge cloves are wonderful in the kitchen (some will need cutting to fit into a garlic press!), and perfect for production pesto-making or baking whole. Scapes form arches, curls and loose coils, and develop hundreds of tiny grain-sized bulbils.

Porcelains are slower to propagate than other hardnecks. 20–35 cloves per pound.

Seed Garlic

The bulb size, the skin color, the flavor, and the size and number of cloves are partly determined by genetics, and partly by cultural practices, soil and weather.

Our standard for a seed garlic bulb is a minimum 2" diameter.

Hardneck Garlic

Hardneck garlic has a hard stalk in the center of the bulb, and (the vast majority of the time) only one ring of cloves. Plant grows an edible scape, a tall leafless stalk with a flower-like top. Not braidable, but can be tied in attractive bundles and hung.

Cut off the scape before it uncurls to get the best bulb size. Not easy on a commercial scale, but on a smaller scale it’s not much work, plus fresh tops are great in salads, stir-fries, pickles, pesto!

If you leave the tops on, the below-ground bulb will likely be smaller, but you’ll get a membrane full of bulbils. Depending on type, you can eat them, or plant them in autumn either for greens next spring or full-sized bulbs in two to four years.

Softneck garlic (which we’ve offered in the past) produces multiple rings of cloves and a soft braidable top. Hardnecks are closer to wild garlic, and have a greater range of character and more complex flavor than softneck. Hardnecks are much hardier, thus recommended for cold climates.