Creole Garlic
Creole is a type (i.e. a large group) of garlic. You can read about other garlic types in our zine. A hardneck type with the least fibrous scapes (suitable for pesto). Sensitive to spring cold snaps and can be fussy to grow, but they generally do OK in the Pacific Northwest. Superbly complex flavor with varying spiciness depending on the cultivar.
Storage: Up to 10 months after harvest
Varieties: Donostia Red, Rossa di Sulmona, Creole Red, Corsican Red
Chef Tim Wastell’s Tasting Notes for ‘Donostia Red’:
Raw: (Garlicana grown) Delicious complex, rounded flavor. Assertively spicy tasting, vivid on the palate with high heat. (Wapato Island grown) Very similar tasting with more intense biting heat
Cooked: (Garlicana grown) Beautifully sweet and warm tasting, deliciously balanced umami flavor, medium-low heat. (Wapato Island Grown) Nearly Identical tasting, slightly more heat
Culinary recommendations: Chili crisp sauce, fermented chili paste/hot sauces, braised with winter greens, rubbed raw onto bread prior to grilling, sofrito