Elephant garlic

Woo · Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:47 am

Is elephant garlic eatable?

gumbo2176 · Mon Dec 10, 2012 8:52 am

Yes, it is. I have about 100 elephant garlic plants in my garden as of a couple months ago along with some regular Red Chesnok planted about the same time.

Woo · Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:09 am

gumbo2176 wrote:Yes, it is. I have about 100 elephant garlic plants in my garden as of a couple months ago along with some regular Red Chesnok planted about the same time.

How about taste your elephant garlic?
Mine is bitter with cook---steam,fry,raw any way.

gumbo2176 · Mon Dec 10, 2012 10:46 am

Woo wrote:
gumbo2176 wrote:Yes, it is. I have about 100 elephant garlic plants in my garden as of a couple months ago along with some regular Red Chesnok planted about the same time.
How about taste your elephant garlic?
Mine is bitter with cook---steam,fry,raw any way.

I've never had a problem with bitterness when I've used Elephant Garlic. I do use garlic in just about all the evening meals I cook but it is not always Elephant garlic. I probably use it about 1/4 of the time. I love the large cloves for ease of peeling and the amount.

Woo · Mon Dec 10, 2012 11:59 am

Marlingardener wrote:We have grown elephant garlic, and found it to be milder than the regular garlic we grow. I've never encountered bitterness.
Are you using it straight out of the garden? I find that most garlics have a better taste after they cure--we hang ours in the barn for a month or more (depending on the humidity) before we start to use the garlic. Perhaps yours is just too fresh?

Maybe mine is different kind of elephant garlic.
I tried to cook October and November, but still bitter.
My elephant garlic(from California) is not hot and mild but bitter taste. I can't reduce the bitter anyway.
And another 3(from Oregon(hard cover soft cover),Ontario)is just planted. I hope these are not bitter.

jal_ut · Sun Dec 16, 2012 2:19 am

Maybe mine is different kind of elephant garlic.

I would suspect it is the variety. The Elephant Garlic I have has always been very mild and never bitter.

I am going to stop growing it except a few for the flowers, and grow real garlic for flavoring. The elephant does have some nice flowers on tall stems.

ElizabethB · Sun Dec 16, 2012 4:29 am

For me elephant garlic does not have the flavor of regular garlic. It may be that oil concentration is not as high. I use garlic in almost every savory dish I cook and just don't care for the elephant garlic.

My 2 cents.

!potatoes! · Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:19 am

I was going to hand out those same 2 cents!

LA47 · Sun Dec 16, 2012 7:42 am

I've been wanting to try it. My son grew some just for his bar-b-qued steak. He said he slices it thick, places it in a couple of layers of foil with butter, seals it tight and puts it on the upper rack of his grill. Gets his steak ready and throws it on. When the steaks are done he pokes a hole in the foil and drizzles the butter on the steak and serves the garlic on the side. Sound good to me!

applestar · Sun Dec 16, 2012 1:25 pm

Is it possible that what the OP has is not the culinary Elephant Garlic but one of the ornamental Giant Alliums?

It really sounds like the difference in flavor is not just subtle or discerning flavor but inedibility.

We just had some elephant garlic broiled *under* the steak (keeps them from burning while imparting flavor) -- DH ate all the garlic pieces even before he started on the steak.

I, of course, took the time to mash them all over the steak....