On Food and Cooking

Japanese    long    onion Allium    ramosum

Japanese    bunching    onion Allium    fistulosum

Rakkyo Allium   chinense

There are many different garlic varieties,
with different proportions of sulfur
compounds and so different flavors and
pungencies. The main commercial varieties
are grown for their yield and storage life, not
their flavor. Cold growing conditions produce
a more intense garlic flavor. Garlic is at its
moistest soon after harvest, from late summer
to late fall, and becomes more concentrated as
it slowly dries out during storage.
Refrigerated storage causes a decline in
distinctively garlicky flavor, and an increase
in more generic onion flavors.
Because the peeling and chopping of the
small cloves is tedious work, garlic is
sometimes prepared in quantity and then
stored under oil for later use. This procedure
turns out to encourage the growth of deadly