Porcelain varieties are the most beautiful garlic bulbs to be found shaping into nearly perfect round, white bulbs with large cloves sometimes over an inch in thickness. Year after year they are the number one seller because of their rich, well-rounded taste. This delightful garlic can be used in all types of dishes and is delectable in roasted garlic spreads, salsas, and chutneys. Porcelains have that classic garlic flavor turning somewhat sweet when cooked. Read about individual varieties below.
Music - BEST SELLER! This is a beautiful, full-bodied and robust garlic that is harvested in mid-season. White skinned with just a blush of pink, this garlic plant makes big cloves (sometimes over an inch in thickness) that are easy-to-peel. Their flavor profile is medium hot with a true, robust garlic flavor. Exceptional shelf life for a Porcelain type garlic, Music will store 9 months to a year and are very cold tolerant.
Romanian Red - Harvested in early to mid-summer, this porcelain is a rich flavored, very hot-strong garlic that stores into spring at cooler room temperatures. Romanian Red, like most porcelains, is a large and beautiful garlic with rich robust flavor that is strong and has an aftertaste that lingers. The clove covers are a light brown with purple streaks. If you are going for the healthiest of garlics, Romanian Red is by far the winner having more allicin than any of the other varieties tested. If you want a hot, flavorful garlic, this is the one, and it stores into the following spring!
Montana Zemo - Original source is likely from Zemo. This beautiful Porcelain strain is more vigorous than the original Zemo, producing large, dense bulbs. Grown by Foothill Farm at the base of the Mission Mountains in northwest Montana, this variety is a good producer and is mild to hot in flavor.
Italian Red - This porcelain variety has robust, complex flavors with a hint of heat; even raw it is mild and sauteed/roasted it becomes nutty, buttery, rich and sweet. Its outer wrappers are bright white turning lavender-silver at the center. Each bulb averages 6-8 lavender-brown cloves per bulb.
Majestic - As the name states, they are quite majestic with some plants likely to produce large bulbs ranging from 2" to 3" or more in diameter. Like many other Porcelains, Majestic garlic generally prefers colder climates. Its flavor is milder than most porcelains and would be considered more mild than Romanian Red or Music. Majestic garlic and other Porcelains generally mature later than other garlic varieties and are excellent keepers with a long storage life — sometime keeping until the next spring after harvest. Porcelains are also typically some of the most disease and drought resistant of garlics although some tend to struggle in warm climates with mild winters and early springs. Majestic garlic remains relatively rare and may be somewhat difficult to find when looking for seed stock to begin growing it.
German White - German White is a beautiful and well-formed porcelain garlic that harvests early to mid-summer and stores into spring. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a good long time. From a grower's perspective, it is a tall, dark-green plant and is a very good survivor, usually growing healthy, disease-resistant plants. This variety is originally from Germany but grows well in most regions of the US. In the warmest climates it's growth is somewhat marginal.
Northern White - This variety is very similar to German Extra-Hardy and German White with large, beautiful and well-formed bulbs. Its flavor is very strong and robust and sticks around for a long time. Northern White is a very easy-to-grow hardneck garlic producing large bulbs with fat, easy-to-peel cloves. The strong-spicy flavor of Northern White makes it superb for roasting. Stores well like many other porcelains generally from 7-10 months.
German Extra Hardy - Yes indeed, it's very hardy, rich, garlicky, and hot, but not overpowering. Grows well in most states even in warm winter areas but will be marginal at best in most of Florida and southern areas of Texas. This is one of our favorites and is usually a great performer in the field with bulbs sometimes exceeding 3" in diameter. Great for crock pot dishes, roasts, soups, and garlic mashed potatoes.
Armenian - This is another delicious procelain that stores as long as any porcelain and while it has some serious heat, it is not offensively hot. Armenian is an early-harvesting, richly-flavored, fairly-pungent garlic that grows well in cold winter areas. In addition to being early harvesting, it is very easy to peel and stores long enough to be planted in the fall - but not much longer. Grows consistently large bulbs with large cloves. Great to eat raw if you're into that sort of thing.