I am looking for some of the super big, jumbo type of elephant garlic, need from someone in Canada as I am in Canada...anyone?

Also, need to find a recipe for canning roasted garlic...have been searching and finding nothing concrete, but I want to pressure can into pint jars...just need a few details to help with this! Thanks a bajillion!

Anna

Hi Muffin! Sorry I couldn't help much, but I did try!

Here's a site that seems to offer to find Canadian seed and plant vendors BUT!
https://seeds.ca/diversity/see...

http://www.henryfields.com/pro... "ships in spring"
"We only ship plant and seed items to the 48 contiguous United States."

http://www.ttseeds.com/PHP/hom...
These ARE Canadian, but darned if I could find any garlic of any kind there!


I know NOTHING about canning, but I found these online, with "experts" saying "don't even try".

"CANNING GARLIC
Canning of garlic is not recommended. Garlic is a low-acid vegetable that requires a pressure canner to be properly processed. Garlic loses most of its flavor when heated in this way. For this reason, adequate processing times have not been determined for canning garlic"
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publicati...

And:
"jo ann nelsonOctober 27, 2014 at 1:53 PM

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. I love roasted garlic and like you I thought to myself if "they" can pressure can garlic so can I. Like you all I found was you can not can garlic because it is a low acid food. Well so is meat.....and we can that. So this is what I finally settled on. I pressure cook whole pealed cloves with no added liquid. Once they are golden and soft I mix them into a paste. Add them to small 4oz canning jars and process for other dense low acid foods. The garlic becomes darker with a rich caramelized aroma. Lets just say it makes the best garlic bread, swirled into soups and stews it ads a complex flavor that is deep and rich. The down side is I have to can outdoors because the process makes the whole place smell like one big roasted garlic.
thank you again for your research I too have been looking with very little luck for pressure canning garlic."
http://www.rural-revolution.co...

Good luck!

You probably know that elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum:) is not a "real" garlic, but is related to leeks. You might look up canning baked leeks.

" I pressure cook whole pealed cloves with no added liquid. Once they are golden and soft I mix them into a paste. Add them to small 4oz canning jars and process for other dense low acid foods. "

....interesting.....could I oven roast the garlic then take the roasted garlic and make into a paste, THEN pressure can in small jars? If I added salt (standard 1 tsp per quart), would that make a differenc?

I wish I knew, but I'm just quoting what I read elsewhere. I don't even know "how safe" her method is.

I thought you would get more experienced answers here!

@muffin, elephant garlic is not a garlic at all. The heirloom, gourmet garlic I grow is often as large as an elephant garlic (onion) but I have never tried to ship to Canada due to high shipping rates. I wish I could help you but I know nothing about canning. I use all my garlic fresh.

Adding salt doesn't affect the preservation in canned goods, just the flavor.

You can freeze roasted garlic with decent results -- although the elephant garlic isn't true garlic, I really don't seem why it wouldn't work to use it for the same purpose.

Or, if you can find a source in Canada, try the variety "Music" -- nice large cloves (4-6 to a bulb) and very hardy.

Ken, what variety is your garlic, I suspect it would do well for me also? I have some Inchellium red that seems to be doing well.

I have elephant garlic growing and it looks great, the stalk is well over an inch thick. The stalk also looks like it might be edible. First time growing and I have no idea how I'm going to eat it, so I would also like some recipes as well.

I cannot help you with the elephant garlic, which isn't a garlic at all. It will be extremely mild compared to "real" gourmet, heirloom garlic.

Gene, I would suspect that garlic would grow for you in SC about the same as it would here in NE Mississippi. Y'all in Greenville are only 1.5 degrees north of us here in Starkville. You pretty much get the same weather patterns as we do, only a day or two later. I plant hardneck, softneck, and Creole. They all do well for me. I generally plant around 4 varieties of the hardneck, 6 of the softneck, and 2-4 Creole (it sometimes is very hard to come by for planting). I did not even write down the specific varieties last fall. I total the harvest in May/June.

Thanks Ken, first time with garlic and thought only softnecks did well here. Guess that's what I get for thinking! I'll be sure to try all three types next fall. The older I get, the more I'm liking larger cloves!
I read that the elephant garlic was actually closer to a leek than a garlic.

Yep, you are using an "onion" rather than a garlic.

By the way, Gene, if you have a desire to order any garlic from me, either for the kitchen or planting, be sure to let me know so I can make a note of that. I sell out each and every year within weeks of posting the garlics. I am a hobbyist grower, not a commercial grower.

RickCorey said:Hi Muffin! Sorry I couldn't help much, but I did try!

Here's a site that seems to offer to find Canadian seed and plant vendors BUT!
https://seeds.ca/diversity/see...

http://www.henryfields.com/pro... "ships in spring"
"We only ship plant and seed items to the 48 contiguous United States."

http://www.ttseeds.com/PHP/hom...
These ARE Canadian, but darned if I could find any garlic of any kind there!

Hi, Elephant garlic can only be grown from the bulb or corms, it is sterile and does not set seed, both from my own experience and what I have read. Some speculation it is an Octploid.


Cheers

Of course, you all know that this is not a garlic. It is more closely an onion.