The Heritage Herb Gardens at the Ozark Folk Center grace the park with visual colors and textures, sweet and pungent aromas. With their natural display, they help us to interpret the history of the human use of plants.
Elephant garlic, Allium ampeloprasum var. ampeloprasum is a relative of garlic, onion and leek that we are seeing now in many a cottage garden. It is named for its very large, often apple-sized bulb. Individual cloves can be the size of a large dates. It occurs in stands marked by celestial globes atop stalks often 3-feet or even taller. It should be dug when about half of the leaves have yellowed and died.
The flowering stem can be dried upright in a tall vase. These will remain rigid and beautiful, especially when mixed with peacock tail feathers and poppy pods.
The bulbs, also known as heads, should be cleaned of excess soil with gloved hands. Put them singly on a screen in an airy place, out of direct sunlight to cure. The best and biggest bulbs should be set apart for replanting in November.
Small axillary bulbs that are not enclosed in the papery skin of the head will produce new plants. They should be replanted as soon as the garlic is harvested. Each small bulb will produce a new plant, forming a single, cloveless round. Rounds will produce heads with cloves in the second year if left to grow.
To develop big bulbs, plant elephant garlic 6 to-8-inches apart and about 4 to-6-inches deep in full sun. The best will be produced in loose, friable soil that is amended with soft rock phosphate before planting. In early spring, when the little green leaves start to actively grow, use a nitrogen-rich fertilizer such as blood meal, feather meal or fish emulsion. When the blooming stem emerges, cut off the scape to eat, so that the energy of the plant is redirected to the formation of a large bulb. At that time it is recommended that potash be applied by mulching the crop with comfrey leaves. I add potash to the soil at planting time with the use of green sand and kelp meal.
Elephant garlic has its own flavor. It is milder and contains less sulfur than garlic. It has a slight bitterness to my palate. People who grow and use this variety of allium slice the cloves on to sandwiches and salad. Many love to roast the whole heads and pop the flesh out of the skins straight into their mouths. To roast bulbs of garlic, cut the very top off, leaving the outer skin in place. Place them in a garlic roasting dish or individually on a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and add a spring of rosemary, thyme or a bay leaf. Cover the dish or seal the foil. Roast the garlic for 35 to 45 minutes at 300° F, until the bulb, when pressed, is soft and yielding. Alternatively, roast whole cloves in a covered baking dish in the same manner.
Elephant garlic is the crop of the future, according to Colin Simpson, Oxted, Surrey, England. I found his garlic article at http://www.nvsuk.org.uk/growing_show_vegetables_1/garlic_elephant_2.php. Botanist Martin Rix believes it is an Eastern Mediterranean native, where it is known as the “Great Headed Garlic”. It was grown in the garden of John Tradescant the Younger, a famous botanist and gardener, in 17th century England. Its roots in the Eastern Mediterranean will qualify it for showcasing during the Herb Harvest Fall Festival at the Ozark Folk Center on October 1 & 2.
According to Simpson, Jim Nicholls, American nurseryman rediscovered elephant garlic in 1941 growing in an old settlement in the Willamette Valley, Scio, Oregon. Immigrants from the eastern Balkans had settled there. The plant was known locally as “Scio’s Giant Garlic”. For twelve years Nicholls planted the largest cloves and selected the best, most disease-resistant plants. At that time he released the bulbs on the market as “Elephant Garlic”. Its Latin classification is still in dispute. It is called Allium scordoprasum by Professor James R. Bagget, at the University of Oregon. Call it what you will, this allium is fun to show off and beautiful to grow. If I don’t see you in the future—I’ll see you in the pasture!