Elephant garlic is a plant that belongs to the onion family, it produces large mild garlic bulbs which is not only great if you want a milder garlic taste, a brilliant show stopper for the harvest but also produced a lot more crop for one plant.

Elephant garlic is also a brilliant crop for producing a wild bulb garlic garden area, as if you treat it right it will keep coming back. 

Why elephant garlic over normal garlic 

• Related to the leek / onion this garlic is milder in flavour
• You get more produce from one plant
• It will keep cropping if you treat it right
• It doesn't have the pungent bite that store bought garlic does
• You can't find it in the supermarket 
• Can be eaten raw 
• Can be roasted

The cons of elephant garlic

• Cannot be a direct replacement for normal garlic in recipes as it's not as strong
• Expensive to buy from garden centers 

FAQs

What are the little bits that come off the elephant garlic?

When harvesting elephant garlic you get little bulblets, these are called corms and they develop outside the garlic bulb. A lot of people would just throw these away but if you plant them, you will get more garlic!! 

• Score them
• Wet them
• Plant them

The first year you will get garlic rounds, which are garlic but they do not have separated cloves; you can still eat these but if you leave them in they will separate into cloves for the year after. Just don't forget to plant more bulbets, rounds or cloves to keep the garlic bed alive. 

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How to: Garlic