Persian Star Hardneck Garlic - (Allium sativum)

Persian Star Garlic – The Only Star You Need in Your Garden

Persian Star, a captivating heirloom variety of the Purple Stripe hardneck family, is celebrated for its striking, vibrantly colored bulbs. This garlic offers bold, complex flavors and stores impressively well, ensuring delightful dishes for an extended period. Its taste is a pleasing balance of spice and sweetness, evolving into a lingering warmth that enhances rather than overpowers your dishes. With a milder heat than other cultivars, Persian Star's inherent sweetness shines when roasted, adding depth and complexity to your creations. 

The medium-sized bulbs, typically 2-3 inches in diameter, unveil 6-10 large, surprisingly easy-to-peel cloves. Their beautiful white outer skin, trimmed with distinctive purple stripes, makes these bulbs as visually appealing as they are delicious.

Persian Star thrives in cool and warm regions, making it suitable for many growing zones. It is known for its consistent and reliable yield year after year, ensuring plentiful harvests.

What is Hardneck Garlic?

Hardneck garlic varieties are prized by gardeners for their robust flavors, generously sized cloves, and unique ability to produce edible scapes. These flower stalks emerge in the springtime and are harvested young and tender, adding a fresh, delicate garlic essence to various dishes. While scapes are steadily gaining popularity, their removal also serves a practical purpose: encouraging the garlic bulb to develop larger, more robust cloves.

Garlic is broadly divided into two main categories: hardneck and softneck. This distinction hinges on several factors, including flower stalks (scapes), cold hardiness, clove formation pattern, and flavor characteristics. The 'neck' refers to the sturdy, woody central stem that extends upwards from the bulb, a defining feature of hardneck garlic.

While softneck varieties like Artichoke and Silverskin garlic are commonly found in supermarkets, hardneck garlic offers a more intricate and complex flavor profile. It is often described as richer, spicier, and possessing a more pronounced "garlicky" essence with subtle nuances that reflect its growing environment. The intensity and character of these flavors vary across different hardneck subtypes, ranging from the mild sweetness of Purple Stripes to the musky depth of Porcelains and the fiery heat of Rocamboles. 

Your gardening climate is a crucial factor when selecting the right hardneck garlic for your garden. Purple Stripe and Rocambole varieties are known for their exceptional cold hardiness, making them well-suited for northern U.S. gardeners. Those gardening in milder climates can still successfully grow hardneck garlic using a technique called vernalization or pre-chilling. This involves exposing the garlic cloves to cold temperatures for at least 4-6 weeks before planting. A simple solution is to store your whole garlic heads in a paper bag in the refrigerator, which effectively prepares the cloves for planting.

History

Purple Stripe garlic occupies a unique position in the garlic lineage. It is considered the ancestor of all other varieties. Its genetic closeness to the origins of the garlic species makes it a living link to the beginning of garlic cultivation.

The journey of Persian Star garlic, also known as Samarkand, is deeply connected to the work of garlic collector John Swenson. In 1989, while on a USDA-led collection mission, Swenson discovered Persian Star garlic at a bustling bazaar in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This discovery was part of a larger endeavor by Swenson, who dedicated nearly 50 years of his life to growing, collecting, and studying heirloom garlic varieties.

Swenson's passion for garlic led him to join a USDA team of biologists on a collections mission through Russia and Central Asia. They meticulously searched remote hillsides and lively marketplaces for every type of garlic, onion, shallot, and carrot they could find. The team's efforts were fruitful; they returned to the US with an impressive collection of 120 garlic varieties alone. Swenson procured many Russian garlic accessions and nurtured them in his backyard, later sharing his treasures with The Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah, Iowa.

Through John's dedication to sharing the garlic cultivars he collected and cultivated, some USSR varieties gained immense popularity, while others became cherished by garlic enthusiasts. His actions profoundly transformed the diversity of garlic available in the US, sparking what has been recognized as a "Garlic Revolution." The number of garlic varieties available in the US skyrocketed from a mere 18 in 1987 to an impressive 274 by 2004, largely thanks to Swenson's tireless efforts.

Uses

Persian Star's complex and well-balanced flavor profile makes it a versatile kitchen asset. While it excels raw, adding a fresh, pungent flavor to salads, salsas, dressings, and marinades, its large, easy-to-handle cloves truly shine when roasted. The heat mellows its initial pungency, transforming it into a sweet and nutty treat that adds depth and richness to sauces, soups, and stews. For the adventurous home chef, fermenting or pickling the cloves creates a unique and tangy condiment, showcasing Persian Star's versatility and ability to elevate any dish.

Planting and Growing Tips

Our article, "Grow Great Hardneck Garlic at Home," walks you through the details of growing the best and most delicious garlic you've ever had!

Learn More

• Grow Great Hardneck Garlic at Home
• Peel Garlic in 10 Seconds
• Korean Pickled Garlic
• Honey Pickled Jalapenos with Garlic

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