Are Garlic Bulbils Edible?

15 years ago

I know nothing about raising garlic except what I've read here in the last few days. You folks have shared a wealth of information in your past posts. A sincere THANKS. The one answer I did not find is whether the bulbils are edible. As you will see in the story below, we have so many of them it seems a shame to throw them out.

Last year we purchased a small adjoining farm with an old home site. This week we discovered a large garlic patch in the old barnyard. It has thrived there for many, many years with no attention. (My apologies to all you folks who are working so hard to find the best way to grow garlic).

We found this patch at about the right time and harvested what will probably amount to about a peck of bulbs (heads I believe they are called). They range from one inch to 2-3 inches. The "Scapes" were never removed and the "Spathes" (learned those words on your forum too) have grown to about an inch diameter.

Based on what I've read here, this is probably the hard neck variety but I haven't a clue beyond that. Our son has already used some of the cloves. He says it is potent and delicious. Far superior to any store-bought he has ever found.

The way the patch has spread over a fairly large area I assume it is propagating both from the heads and the spathes. Some of the smaller plants are as much as fifty feet from the larger, and I assume original patch.

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gallaure

15 years ago

I just found a fantastic reference on Google books! the page refers to drying bulbils, then crushing them with a rolling pin and dumping the flakes on stuff... YUM!

Here is a link that might be useful: Page of Book...

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Comments (8)

bloosquall
15 years ago
Peel the bulbils and put them in a green salad or bake them on a pork chop. Yes, they're very edible. I like my garlic raw, fresh harneck bulbils are a treat.
cedarlake
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks bloosquall. Between the heads and the bulbils we'll have enough to supply the whole community. If I eat one of those bulbils and get sick I'm going to call my lawyer and... naw just kidding!

You have a nice web site. Man. You're serious about garlic. I love the flutter-bys. I lifted the java code from your page. Going to look at it later and see if I can use it with other images.
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The sand leek (Allium scorodoprasum) is also sometimes called rocambole and usually but not always has bulbils along with the flowers. Elephant garlic is also sometimes called and even sold incurrectly as rocambole. The sand leek will have small bulbs with small cloves, and the elephant garlic will have large cloves on bigger bulbs or simply as big rounds and will have much heavier and robust foliage, while the sand leek is much daintier. If that is the foliage in the picture, I would guess that you got elephants that were originally identified as rocambole, or perhaps one of its wilder leek relatives such as the kurrat or Egyptian leek which is a bit smaller than the closely related elephants and there are several strains of each of those as well. Looks like one of the leeks to me. (they are all edible)
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MrChip, nice video... I am following in your footsteps this year myself, so it is good to know what to expect. I haven't had much luck so far trying to grow bulbils in the ground when Fall planted (too much winter kill) so starting them indoors seems to be the best option. I will be using a 6-bulb T8 High-bay fixture as the light source; I had great results when growing onion seedlings from that set up. My main reason for growing bulbils is not for multiplication, but to (hopefully) leave behind some of the soil-borne diseases which, over time, decrease bulb size. Artichoke varieties are particularly hard to "clean up", since they do not send up scapes. Last year was unusual, however, in that most of my artichoke varieties formed stem bulbils... I'm taking advantage of that, and attempting to grow them for fresh stock. Redsun, you seem to have mastered bulbil culture. I hope to replicate your results for hardneck varieties in future years, again as a way to prevent the gradual accumulation of soil-borne diseases. I planted bulbils from several hardnecks last Fall, so it remains to be seen if they will survive... there is cause for optimism, since some of the bulbils I planted were from volunteers, in the field where I have been tossing over-developed scapes over the years.
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I just planted some garlic in containers maybe three weeks ago, so I've read up on container garlic a bit recently. I'm a zone and a half warmer than you, so take my experience with a grain of salt. You're in a warm enough zone (according to this: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/garlic/how-to-grow-garlic-in-warmer-climates.htm) that you could probably keep your pots outside the shed for most of the winter. The garlic will benefit from the light and have a head start in the spring. As you're growing in a container instead of in-ground you'll have to worry about freezing a little more. If you know temps are going to drop a lot, you could bring the pots into a sheltered area like your shed. But the worst that will probably happen if you forget is the leaves will die back and the garlic will just start again in the spring. Mine have all sprouted leaves since the climate isn't cold enough to keep them dormant. If yours do sprout, I would favor giving them more light over protecting them from the cold. Otherwise, they might use up all of their energy struggling to find the light before you even get to spring.
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lilacs_of_may
15 years ago
Oh, I so envy you! I'm one of those trying desperately to get big, healthy garlic bulbs, and you just happen onto a huge patch. The bulbils are just tiny garlic cloves, so yes they're edible. So are the garlic scapes. I like to slice them and steam them lightly with other vegetables, like broccoli and carrots.
bloosquall
15 years ago
Ceder, I see you're from TN... I'll type slower. oh my god..too funny.

Try chopping them in half and lightly cook them with scrambled eggs. You say you pinched some of my code off my page...shame on you. I'm having my bulbs professionally photographed for said site, I should have them posted in a couple weeks. maybe I can add one here, nope can't figure out how to do it.
cedarlake
Original Author
15 years ago
Bloosquall:
Glad to get the scrambled egg idea. I might even be able to cook that without involving the wife.

I'll look forward to seeing the pictures. That would help me identify the type of garlic we have. I participate in a couple wood turning forums and we easily post pictures several ways, but after a quick glance around this forum it's not obvious that you can post them here.

As for the Tennessee humor, we can read pretty fast (if the words are small); we just speak slowly. Actually I've spent a lot of time living elsewhere (NJ/NY, AZ, VA, KY) so I'm really "multi-accented". I spent my formative teenage years in the Navy. That does something to one's accent and vocabulary.
cedarlake
Original Author
15 years ago
Jenna. You posted a message to my web site but did not leave your email address. I will be glad to give you some garlic for planting if you will give me the contact information.
Chuck Jones
gallaure
15 years ago
Jenna here...

Weird. I put it in last time!

I've re-submitted. Thanks!

Are Garlic Bulbils Edible?

gallaure

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