Monday, July 16, 2012

Matron's Elephant

 This was a self seeded Elephant Garlic clove that I forgot to dig up last Summer. I let it grow in situ all Winter and Spring. At times I wondered if it was a leek but a sniff of the leaves told me otherwise. Now that the leaves are starting to die back I decided to dig it up and have a look to see what's underneath.
 So exciting, it's like digging for buried treasure.
 It just got bigger
 and bigger...
 Ta Daaah! what a whopper!
 Interesting little baby cloves growing on the roots. I think I will pot these up and try to grow them on.
I did get a few ideas on how to eat them when I visited the Garlic Farm stand at the Hampton Court festival recently. I think I will roast the whole bulb slowly in the oven. Sounds delicious!

9 comments:

  1. I need to pull my elephants too - It's described as nearer to a leek than a garlic - what would you say it tastes like.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Last year I grew 'scottish' garlic from a supermarket bulb with the logic that it would do well if the weather was cold and damp. What I got was lots of leeks smelling of garlic and couldn't figure out what had gone 'wrong'. Your post has made me think it may have been elephant garlic and I should have left it for a good while longer!

    ReplyDelete
  3. you have got to have baked camebert with warm bread and roasted Garlic there is nothing better!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Anonymous7:54 PM

    Wow, what a find. I here garlic roasted then spread on toast is very nice, haven't tried it myself though. Funny your word verification has got me typing beesting. lol

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a beaut! Defo gonna get some of these elephant garlic to plant this autumn after the tiddler bulbs of regular stuff we managed this year. Where'd you get them from.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Now I think, someone had mentioned that elephant garlic is actually more of a type of leek than a "proper" garlic, which might explain how leeky it looked in the ground.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stacy - that sounds like a heavenly way to eat it. Might just do that.
    Lee - I buy my garlic sets from The Garlic Farm on the Isle of Wight. They do mail order.

    ReplyDelete
  8. It's beautiful! DH & I always ordered oven roasted elephant garlic, cheese, chutney and rustic bread/crackers from a particular restaurant in Seattle. I don't see it on their online menu now. This link is similar to what it was:

    http://bakedbree.com/brie-roasted-garlic-and-tomato-chutney

    Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Fantastic! We are really intrigued by this variety and look forward to growing it next year!!

    ReplyDelete