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Garlic Family Groups

Hardnecks

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Weakly Bolting Hardneck

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Softnecks

Glazed Purple Stripe
Hardneck
Allium Sativum Ophioscorodon

In General

Glazed Purple Stripe, contrary to what our intuition tells us, is not a direct subgroup of Purple Stripe, at least no more so than any other horticultural group. Glazed Purple Stripe was first proposed as a group unto itself by author of Growing Great Garlic, Ron Engeland, who observed that this cultivar seemed to exhibit unique growing characteristics.

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Oregon - Glazed Purple Stripe

Engeland used the bulb appearance as the primary means of distinguishing Glazed Purple Stripes from other groups, which has led to quite a bit of confusion and skepticism among horticulturalists. Fortunately there was a scientific study conducted at Fort Collins which examined the genetic structure of many strains of garlic and, indeed, the study found that Glazed Purple Stripes formed their own unique cluster, distinct enough from other groups to warrant giving them their own name.

Physical Characteristics

Ted Jordan Meredith writes, "The name Glazed Purple Stripe is a good descriptor. The bulb wrappers have a glazed, matte metallic appearance and are silvery purple with occasional gold tones. The clove skins are smooth and shiny with a purple blush over a tannish background. We are in need of additional phenotypic descriptors to supplement the tenuous bulb and clove color descriptors that currently largely define the group." There are approximately 8-10 cloves per bulb.

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On the Tongue

Wide range of flavors and pungency among the few Glazed Purple Stripes in circulation. They can be somewhat vegetative in character, but can also display full bodied and complex garlicky character.

In the Field

As you can see from the photo above, Purple Stripes are... purple! They have a fair number of cloves per bulb; 8 to 12 being common. Because of this, the cloves are a good deal smaller than those of garlic from the Marbled Purple Stripe or Porcelain families, but they are typically uniform in size and well formed, meaning they break apart easily from neighboring cloves when "popping" the bulb. Skins are not difficult to peel but they are tight, which helps them to store well into the new year. Purple Stripes are strongly bolting and umbels are packed with many small bulbils (75-125), though not as small as most Porcelains. We've noticed that Purple Stripes tend to mature later in the season than many other varieties, pushing back the harvest date.

Cultivars We Typically Carry

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Oregon

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The Oregon trail leads west, all the way from Missouri to the coast, over mountains and through stunning, rugged, hostile territory. Some early pioneers would carry flasks of dragon fire whisky to bolster their courage, but the pioneers with true grit would pack a tin of dried garlic... real garlic... 

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Red Rezan

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Red Rezan comes to us from South of Moscow. True to its Russian soul, it'll set your heart on fire if you let it.

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