Asiatic garlic

Early, with thick glossy skins.

Good for fast peeling, roasting whole heads, raw heat and most plants per pound of seed.

By winter

Frozen hard for weeks. Grows in hard winters.
Frost, then thaw, repeatedly. Grows where frost comes and goes.
Rare or brief frost. Grows where frost is rare.

At a glance

Neck: Between hardneck and softneck, with a weak scape
Keeps: 4 to 6 months
Cloves per bulb: 4 to 10, firm and plump
Flavor: Hot raw, sweet cooked.
Braiding: No
Harvest: Early, and abrupt

Varieties to order

Asian Tempest

Hardneck · Keeps through winter · Early harvest

Order from Filaree Keene

What each supplier says

Group: Asiatic (Filaree)
Asiatic (Keene)
Neck: hard (Filaree)
hard (Keene)
Cloves per bulb: 6 to 10 (Filaree)
5 to 7 large (Keene)
Per pound: 6 to 8 bulbs/lb (Filaree)
8 bulbs / 56 cloves per lb (Keene)
Keeps: Through winter (Filaree)
Flavor: Hot (Filaree)
Breathtakingly hot raw, sweet baked (Keene)
Climate: Mild winters / Southern (Filaree)
Northern and most Southern States (Keene)
Harvest: Early (Filaree)

Japanese

Hardneck · Keeps through winter · Early harvest

Order from Filaree

What each supplier says

Group: Asiatic (Filaree)
Neck: hard (Filaree)
Cloves per bulb: 5 to 7 (Filaree)
Keeps: Through winter (Filaree)
Flavor: Medium-Hot (Filaree)
Climate: Mild winters / Southern (Filaree)
Harvest: Early (Filaree)

Korean Red

Hardneck

Order from Keene

What each supplier says

Group: Asiatic (Keene)
Neck: hard (Keene)
Cloves per bulb: 9 to 12 (Keene)
Per pound: 6 to 8 bulbs/lb, 72 to 96 cloves/lb (Keene)
Flavor: Zingy citrus, sweet roasted (Keene)
Climate: Northern and Southern States (Keene)

Pyong Yang

Hardneck · Early harvest

Order from Filaree

What each supplier says

Group: Asiatic (Filaree)
Neck: hard (Filaree)
Cloves per bulb: 6 to 8 (Filaree)
Keeps: Good (Filaree)
Flavor: Mild, nutty (Filaree)
Climate: Mild winters / Southern (Filaree)
Harvest: Early (Filaree)

Russian Inferno

Hardneck

Order from Keene

What each supplier says

Group: Asiatic (Keene)
Neck: hard (Keene)
Cloves per bulb: 5 to 7 large (Keene)
Flavor: Breathtakingly hot raw, sweet baked (Keene)
Climate: Northern and most Southern States (Keene)

What the catalogs say

Thick, semi-glossy clove skins over firm plump cloves, and a short drooping coiled flower stalk carrying a few large purple bulbils. Matures early and abruptly, so it needs watching. Genetically differentiated in the USDA study despite the weak bolting habit. Varieties include Asian Tempest, Pyongyang, Sakura, Japanese.

Storage is contradicted. Filaree gives about four months, Hood River five to six, Alaska Fairbanks five to seven. No catalog surveyed gives Asiatic a climate recommendation.