top of page
Rocambole Garlic Group
Late Season| Short Storing | 7-14 cloves
The Chef: Culinary perfection and renowned as the tastiest with a sweet nutty flavour
Rocambole like Porcelain garlics grows best in cold climates with very cold winters. This garlic group produces several tan coloured cloves per bulb and typically has a purple blush on its bulb wrapper. For a strongly bolting hardneck garlic, it only has a short storage life. It grows best in a cold winter climate​.
This garlic is a strongly-bolting hardneck type meaning it sends up a flower scape with a solid stem which is not braidable. This garlic is considered to be the finest and most flavoursome. It has a deep, sweet and nutty flavour which is creamy and buttery and rich in oils resulting in it having on of the best garlic tastes. It is also excellent raw (not sulphurous).
Characteristics
Clove & Bulb Appearance
The bulb is normally a round shape, generally has a white with a purple blush wrapper (skin), and contains between 7-14 cloves. The bulbs have a single layer of cloves.
Generally all cloves of a standard size bulb are of a size suitable for planting. The wedge-shaped cloves' skin is a dull tan colour with purple blush and are very easy peeling.
Clove skins have a tendency to split and double cloves are common. Their easy peeling quality and excellent flavour makes this garlic ideal in the kitchen, but it is commercially uneconomic due to its short storage life of around 5-6 months after harvest.
Bulbils
This hardneck garlic sends out a scape (flower stalk) particularly in colder climates. They typically produce a small amount of extra large bulbils (10-25) with a purple to dark purple blush and are of a similar size to asiatic bulbils. As a result, growing from a bulbil normally takes just two years to produce a normal sized garlic.
Leaves & Scapes
Rocambole have narrow upright green leaves. The scape shape is unusual in that they often produce 1-3 loops with a wide green umbel, with the spathe turning white when mature. The juvenile garlic leaf is plump and robust.
bottom of page