Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Pearl onions
COURTESY SHUTTERSTOCK/© STEVE LOVEGROVE
CULTIVATION HISTORY
As with the leek, the wild form of the pearl onion is found around the Medi-
terranean and the Middle East. As for domestication, it is hard to tell if older descriptions are referen-
cing leeks or pearl onions (because leeks also form bulbils when the flower stalk is pruned), but it is
safe to say that cultivation of pearl onions has always been rather limited; despite a nod from Becker-
Dillingen (1938), who recommended them to the canned food industry, commercial production too has
remained small.
GARLIC
Allium sativum
Garlic is grown on every continent, and the individual cloves of the garlic bulb are an absolutely es-
sential ingredient in cuisines from Thailand to Mexico, with signature stops throughout the Mediter-
ranean region. A kitchen utensil has even been invented specifically for garlic: the garlic press, which
is found in many households, though professional chefs swear by garlic that is finely chopped by hand.
Raw garlic minimizes water loss through the skin when eaten, making the body require slightly less
water. Fresh, sometimes blanched leaves of the garlic plant are used in the Asian kitchen. Rocambole
is a class of garlic varieties that produce scapes (spiral, elongated stems).
The many heirloom varieties all came into being by spontaneous mutations and simple selection.
Since garlic is propagated vegetatively, individuals within varieties are genetically identical clones.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
• 10 good-looking plants
POLLINATION NOTES
Nearly all garlic varieties send up a stalk that produces bulbils; rarely (usually
as a reaction to stress), flowers also form, but these are usually sterile. Heirloom varieties can only be
propagated vegetatively, thus no isolation is necessary.
PROPAGATION
Garlic is propagated vegetatively via individual cloves or via bulbils. An entire garlic
bulb grows from each planted clove. Plant cloves in early to mid autumn, and harvest bulbs the follow-
ing summer. Cloves can also be planted in early to mid spring (at the latest), though bulbs will be
smaller and will ripen about four weeks later. Bulbils harvested from the stalks of plants are edible and
