All varieties

Elephant garlic

Not a true garlic. A mild relative of the leek.

It cooks like a very mild garlic, with huge cloves. Plant it 8 inches apart and cure it longer. It isn't true garlic, so it isn't ranked in the picker.

At a glance

Neck

Leek family, with a large flower stalk

Keeps

Several months, kept cool and dry. Check it often.

Cloves per bulb

4 to 8, enormous

Flavor

Mild, sweet and leek like.

Peeling

Very easy.

Braiding

No

Harvest

Late

Seed per pound

About 15 cloves per pound, 3 to 5 bulbs per pound.

What the catalogs say

Not a true garlic. Filaree and Territorial both describe it as a close relative of the leek, and the flavor follows: mild and sweet rather than pungent. Plants reach four to five feet and want eight inches of spacing. Sold as a single unnamed item, with no strains. UF/IFAS names it the best garlic option for Florida.

Botanically <i>Allium ampeloprasum</i>, not <i>Allium sativum</i>. If you want garlic heat, this is not the plant.