Garlic Makes It Good

Enlarge Image Image Gallery Enjoy subtle garlic flavor in spring and early summer by harvesting and cooking the bulb's tasty young greens and flower stalks, known as “scapes.” Rob Cardillo

“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek … Garlic makes it good.” 

— Alice May Brock, author of Alice’s Restaurant cookbook.

This article is part of our Guide to Garlic. Click here for growing tips or click here to learn about garlic's health benefits.

From subtle to spectacular, garlic’s flavor palette is almost as wide-ranging as its number of varieties. One tiny, fresh clove can deliver a powerful punch, yet an entire handful of bulbs, when roasted or gently sweated in olive oil, can melt into a tender puree with a sweet, deceptively mellow flavor.

A member of the lily plant family, garlic (Allium sativum) shares its lineage with leeks, onions, shallots and chives. Like its pungent relatives, garlic is more vegetable than seasoning: Although garlic greens make tasty springtime fare, we most often use the fleshy, underground bulbs that separate into cloves—each neatly wrapped in paper-thin skin.

Knowing even a little bit about the types (softneck and hardneck), groups and some of the hundreds of cultivars can give you a master’s edge in the kitchen.

Of the hardneck garlics—including Rocambole, Porcelain and Purple Stripe—Rocambole is best known. The Rocambole varieties ‘Spanish Roja’, ‘Russian Red’ and ‘Carpathian’ have complex, full-bodied flavors that chefs love. Porcelain varieties (such as ‘Romanian Red’ and ‘Leningrad’) have larger but fewer cloves per bulb. Purple Stripe hardneck varieties are perhaps the most beautiful garlics.

Softneck bulbs—such as Artichoke and Silverskin varieties—tend to be larger, have more cloves and store longer than hardneck garlic varieties. Artichokes often are mild-flavored, but can become pungent when grown in cold climates. Silverskin varieties tend to taste very strong and often lack the complexity of other types.

Use these garlics for roasting, mince and sauté the cloves, or display the bulbs in braids. Also enjoy the milder Artichoke garlics in egg dishes with tender vegetables and in cream soups. (For more about choosing garlic, see "A Few of My Favorite Garlics.")

6 Tips for Cooking with Garlic

Cooking with garlic is a matter of taste, technique and health. The compound allicin gives garlic its unmistakable odor and health benefits. (For more about the health benefits of garlic, see "Garlic: Nature's gift for life.") Try these tips for maximum flavor and good health: