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Porcelain Garlic Group
Late Season| Medium Storing | 2-6 cloves
The Beauty: Large teardrop form, produces a few massive cloves, is at the top of its field
Porcelain like Rocambole garlics grows best in cold climates with very cold winters. This garlic group produces the least number of cloves per bulb and typically has a white papery bulb wrapper. It's probably the easiest garlic to peel cloves they almost rub off with ease. It grows best in a cold winter climate​.
Porcelain is a strongly-bolting hardneck type meaning it sends up a flower scape with a solid stem which is not braidable. It has a simple strongly sulfurous garlic taste and has the highest allicin content of any garlic type.
Characteristics
Clove & Bulb Appearance
The bulb is normally tear drop shaped, generally has a white papery wrapper (skin) and contains between 2-6 cloves - this is the least number of cloves per garlic bulb of all the groups. The bulbs have a single layer of cloves.
Generally all cloves from a standard-sized bulb are of a suitable size for planting. The clove skin is a tan colour, fat, wedge-shaped and easy peeling. They are known to have the highest allicin (the sulfuric bio-active antibiotic in garlic) yield of any garlic. The clove probably the easiest garlic to peel since the skin is so papery and does not tend to stick to the clove.
The lack of clove numbers makes Porcelain garlic very distinctive from other garlic, thus they are not typically a commercially viable crop. They have a medium storage life of around 7-8 months after harvest.
Bulbils
This hardneck garlic sends out a scape (flower stalk) particularly in colder climates. They typically produce a massive number (100-200) of small grain-of-rice-size cream bulbils - more than any other garlic. Growing from a bulbil can take 3-5 years to produce a normal-sized garlic.
Leaves & Scapes
Porcelain garlic have wide upright leaves that are a vibrant green colour. Scapes shape can be very random, often they are a downward 'U' shape, with a umbel that is short, narrow and green. Scapes tend to be very tall prior to harvest and the mature spathe is white. The juvenile garlic leaf is very stumpy and robust.
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