Elephant garlic (''

Allium ampeloprasum ''Allium ampeloprasum'' is a member of the onion genus ''Allium''. The wild plant is commonly known as wild leek or broadleaf wild leek. Its native range is southern Europe to western Asia, but it is cultivated in many other places and has becom ...

'' var. ''ampeloprasum'') is a perennial plant belonging to the onion genus. It has a tall, solid, flowering stalk and broad, flat

leaves A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

. The flavor is milder than garlic and can be eaten raw in salads, roasted, or sauteed, but is generally not a substitute for conventional

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plant in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, Welsh onion and Chinese onion. It is native to South Asia, Central Asia and northeas ...

in cooking. It is sometimes confused with solo garlic.

Cultivation and use

Bulb size of elephant garlic, compared with a €1 coin (the coin is approximately 0.9 inches) The mature bulb is broken up into cloves that are large with papery skins, and these are used for both culinary purposes and propagation. Also, much smaller corms with a hard shell grow on the outside of the bulb. Many gardeners often ignore these, but if they are planted, they produce a nonflowering plant in their first year, which has a solid bulb, essentially a single large clove. In their second year, this single clove then, like a normal bulb, divides into many separate cloves. While it may take an extra year, it is desirable to plant these small bulbils (several can be produced by each bulb) and increase the harvest. Unlike many garlics, elephant garlic does not have to be harvested or divided each year, but can be ignored and left in the ground without much risk of rotting. The plant, if left alone, will spread into a clump with many flowering heads (one stalk and flower from each clove, once the bulb divides). These are often left in flower gardens as an ornament and to discourage pests. Once they get overcrowded, the plant may not do as well, and growth is stunted, with some rotting. Elephant garlic is not generally propagated by seeds. Like regular garlic, elephant garlic can be roasted whole on the grill or baked in the oven, then used as a spread with butter on toast. Fresh elephant garlic contains mostly moisture and foams up like boiling potatoes, whether on the stove or in a glass dish in the oven. Drying in the basement for a few months reduces the moisture content and brings out a fuller flavor.

Properties

When crushed and then analyzed using a DART ion source, elephant garlic has been shown to produce both

allicin Allicin is an organosulfur compound obtained from garlic, a species in the family Alliaceae. It was first isolated and studied in the laboratory by Chester J. Cavallito and John Hays Bailey in 1944. When fresh garlic is chopped or crushed, th ...

, found in garlic, and syn-propanethial-S-oxide (onion lachrymatory factor), found in

onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus '' Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the on ...

and

leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...

, but absent in garlic, consistent with the classification of elephant garlic as a closer relative of leek than of garlic.

Cultivation

Elephant garlic can be planted at two different times of the year: spring and autumn. In warmer areas, it can be grown over winter for a late-spring harvest.

Cultivation and use

Properties

Cultivation

References

Further reading