[CH] More info about hot garlic and some links
D. Gibson (jongleurdg@earthlink.net)
Tue, 2 Nov 1999 23:46:53 -0600
>Date: Mon, 01 Nov 1999 23:29:53 -0800
>From: "Richard A. Williams" <rhialto@aa.net>
>Subject: Re: [CH] Hot garlic and peppers
>"D. Gibson" wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone out there use hot garlic in their hot
>> pepper sauce? I've identified a few varieties of
>> garlic with some heat. If this is off topic I won't
>> mention it again.
>I have no experience with hot garlic, but would surely
love to get some!
>Where do you get these varieties? Sources, man,
sources! All I can get
>around here is standard supermarket stuff, bred for
long shelf life, not
>flavor.
>
>Richard (drooling at the thought of a new kind of
hot...)
Hi there, Richard. You'll be lucky to find a stash of
rare garlics this season. Many of them are already sold
out since the harvest season for rare garlic is
June-July. If by chance you can find seed garlic, fall
is the time to plant. Bob, who runs Gourmet Garlic
Gardens says that if you email him
( bob@web-access.net ) he will send you his April
newsletter outlining his expected harvest for
June-July. I believe Bob recommends ordering rare
garlics well in advance of the harvest season.
Incidentally, here is what Bob had to say about Metechi
garlic:
"When I taste tested this magnificent beast, my face
turned very red, tears welled up and I broke out into
an instant profuse sweat and I thought fire was coming
out of my nose and ears. I had to breathe in through my
mouth and out through my nose in an effort to cool the
heat, which subsided after a minute or so. It took
almost an hour for the hair on the back of my neck to
dry. I don't know if I had an extra large bite due to
the size of the clove or what, but I gained a wholesome
respect for this garlic. The aftertaste was warm
pleasing and garlicky, but not unpleasant. Its flavor
seems to hold up well in cooking."
Here are a few links for rare garlics:
Seeds Of Change, rare planting garlic
http://st4.yahoo.com/seedsofchange/rarplangar.html
Gourmet Garlic Gardens
http://www.gourmetgarlicgardens.com/varietys.htm
The Garlic Store, hardneck/rocambole garlics
http://www.thegarlicstore.com/index.cgi/hardneck.html/j
ebejdhad.efddc
Filaree Farm
http://www.filareefarm.com/
(Lots of varieties but heat flavor isn't described
much)
The Chinese Purple, Purple Cauldron, Rocambole,
Metechi, and Asian Rose appear to be very hot garlics.
Gourmet Garlic Gardens has some great articles on
garlic and garlic cooking. They do say that raw garlic
expresses the most heat. Cooked garlic will lose much
of the heat, so I am suggesting that most hot garlics
may
best be used in fresh peppersauces if the goal is to
retain the heat. An interesting point about hot
garlics is that most of the heat from eating raw
garlics will dissipate after about 40 seconds; it
generally doesn't linger for very long like the
peppers.
Lazlo