Garlic information

Information for garlic in our free herbs and spices resources collection.

Garlic

Garlic (Allium sativum L.) is the second most widely cultivated Allium after onion. According to FAO estimates for the year 1999, the world area cultivated is 889,000 ha and production is 8,776,000 mt. China, Korea, India, USA, Spain, Argentina and Egypt are the major garlic growing countries. China ranks first in area (424,000 ha) and production (5,690,000 mt) followed by India in area (113,000 ha) and Korea in production (484,000 mt). In productivity, Egypt tops the list (25,366 kg/ha) followed by USA (16,250 kg/ha), China (13,421 kg/ha) and Korea Republic (11,916 kg/ ha). Korea Republic has the highest per capita availability, i.e. 10.50 kg per year followed by Argentina (5.01 kg) and China (4.53 kg). The world garlic area, production and productivity trends during the past decade show that since 1986 they have improved by about 115.78%, 245.92% and 60.41%, respectively. Garlic is in demand almost all the year round all over the world both in fresh form and also in dehydrated form. Today, garlic is used for its flavour, aroma and taste being prepared domestically or forming a raw material for a variety of food manufacturing processes (dehydration and pickling).

Fresh garlic is widely used in cooking. In India and other Asian and Middle East countries, it is used in pickles, curry powder, curried vegetables, meat preparation, tomato ketchup. In the Philippines, Central Eastern Asia and in parts of the tropics, the green tops as well as bulbs of garlic are used. Dehydrated garlic in powdered or granulated form has replaced the use of fresh bulbs for industrial and home use in many countries. Dehydrated products of garlic are common as a condiment and in the food industry. It is reported that in America about 50% of the total production of garlic is dehydrated and sent to food processors.

Garlic is a frost-hardy bulbous perennial erect herb of 30-100 cm in height with narrow flat leaves and bears small white flowers and bulbils. It is a herbaceous annual for bulb and a biennial for seed production. The shape of garlic is smooth, round and solid for its entire length unlike onion which is hollow. Many cloves of garlic do not produce flowerstalks. The inflorescence may be partially or not at all exerted, its bulbils forming a swelling somewhere within the false stem a few cm above the bulbs. The bulb consists of 6-35 smaller bulblets called cloves and is surrounded by a thin white or pinkish papery sheath.

Alliums have been cultivated for thousands of years for therapeutic and prophylactic properties, religious significance, and flavour and taste. The Chinese, Sumerians, Indians and Ancient Egyptians are all known to have consumed garlic over 4000 years ago. Among others, Hippocrates (430 BC) and Theophras Tuso (322 BC) have described the consumption of garlic in the Greek and Roman period. Garlic is thought to have originally come from Central Asia and Southern Europe, especially the Mediterranean region. Some authorities consider that Allium longicuspis Regel, which is endemic to Central Asia, is the wild ancestor and spread in ancient times to the Mediterranean region.

Garlic presents an interesting problem of classification and quality given the wide range of cultivars, differing in maturity, bulb size, clove size and number, scale colour, bolting, number and size of inflorescence bulbils and presence or absence of flowers. Taxonomists have recognised at least four botanical varieties within Allium sativum L., namely A. sativum L., Var sativum, A.sativum L. Var., Ophioscorodon (Link) Doll, A. sativum L. Var Pekinense (Prokh) Maekawa and A. sativum L. Var nipponicum Kitamura. Following criteria may be of practical use for distinguishing different garlic cultivars:

• Morphological characteristics such as: Bolting type, number and size of cloves, number of leaf axils, forming cloves, number of secondary cloves formed in a lateral bud, bulb weight, colour of the outer protective leaf of the cloves, number of protective leaves, width and length of foliage, plant height and tenderness of the green leaves.
• Physiological and ecological characteristics: Time of bulbing and maturity, low temperature and long day requirements for bulb formation, winter hardiness and bulb dormancy.

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