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Are garlic cloves getting easy to peel? An investigation

8 points by jseliger 4y ago

perihelions 4y ago
What an absolute labyrinth of curiosity. This is what I read /new queue for. There's more about the project to restore garlic flowers on this page (though it looks like it hasn't been updated since 2008, though the Slate quotes imply this is an ongoing project in 2022, so maybe this is the wrong link?) https://www.agri.gov.il/blogs/chapter.aspx?peopleId=606&chapterId=174 https://www.agri.gov.il/blogs/chapter.aspx?peopleId=606&chap... ("Fertility restoration in garlic") - "In the framework of this project, our collection missions to Central Asia have gathered over 300 garlic genotypes from locally cultivated or natural populations in Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Kirgizistan, and Kazakhstan. This region is recognized as the primary centre of origin of garlic and the main and richest source for genetic diversity, worldwide. The collected clones were evaluated in Israel for their potential fertility and other useful traits. It was found that following stalk elongation, flower differentiation, pollination, and fertilization, true garlic seeds might be obtained in more than 30 clones..." edit: Maybe this is the real page; its Allium related bibliography goes up to 2022. https://geophytevolcani.wixsite.com/website/research https://geophytevolcani.wixsite.com/website/research ("The Geophyte Research Team - Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Institute")
not_the_fda 4y ago
Garlic isn't hard to peel. People just do it wrong. Put in a tupperware container and shake the hell out of it. Dozen of cloves of garlic peeled.
- matthewmcg 4y ago
  Or smack it with the side of a knife to crack the peel. It comes right off.
  - moistly 4y ago
    I nip the rough end off the clove first but, yah, press down with the flat side of a kitchen knife and the skin just falls right off.
- WalterGR 4y ago
  > I’ve tried the shakers. I’ve tried the silicon rollers. I’ve tried cutting off the stem end and rolling the clove between my hands. All these methods sort of work, which is to say that they end with a snowfall of skin decorating my counter and cloves I still have to pick clean. I even tried the delightful method proposed by Saveur magazine, whose executive food editor, Todd Coleman, instructed me in a video to throw a whole head of garlic into a metal bowl, cover it with a second same-sized metal bowl, and then “shake the dickens out of it.”
derbOac 4y ago
I've talked to garlic vendors in the farmer's market, who sell nothing but garlic, and what they've said to me is the same as what's in this article. Some varieties are easier to peel, and some of them wait longer before selling them so they're easier to peel.

8 points by jseliger 4y ago

What an absolute labyrinth of curiosity. This is what I read /new queue for. There's more about the project to restore garlic flowers on this page (though it looks like it hasn't been updated since 2008, though the Slate quotes imply this is an ongoing project in 2022, so maybe this is the wrong link?) https://www.agri.gov.il/blogs/chapter.aspx?peopleId=606&chapterId=174 https://www.agri.gov.il/blogs/chapter.aspx?peopleId=606&chap... ("Fertility restoration in garlic") - "In the framework of this project, our collection missions to Central Asia have gathered over 300 garlic genotypes from locally cultivated or natural populations in Uzbekistan, Tadjikistan, Kirgizistan, and Kazakhstan. This region is recognized as the primary centre of origin of garlic and the main and richest source for genetic diversity, worldwide. The collected clones were evaluated in Israel for their potential fertility and other useful traits. It was found that following stalk elongation, flower differentiation, pollination, and fertilization, true garlic seeds might be obtained in more than 30 clones..." edit: Maybe this is the real page; its Allium related bibliography goes up to 2022. https://geophytevolcani.wixsite.com/website/research https://geophytevolcani.wixsite.com/website/research ("The Geophyte Research Team - Agricultural Research Organization - Volcani Institute")

not_the_fda 4y ago

Garlic isn't hard to peel. People just do it wrong. Put in a tupperware container and shake the hell out of it. Dozen of cloves of garlic peeled.

matthewmcg 4y ago
Or smack it with the side of a knife to crack the peel. It comes right off.
- moistly 4y ago
  I nip the rough end off the clove first but, yah, press down with the flat side of a kitchen knife and the skin just falls right off.
WalterGR 4y ago
> I’ve tried the shakers. I’ve tried the silicon rollers. I’ve tried cutting off the stem end and rolling the clove between my hands. All these methods sort of work, which is to say that they end with a snowfall of skin decorating my counter and cloves I still have to pick clean. I even tried the delightful method proposed by Saveur magazine, whose executive food editor, Todd Coleman, instructed me in a video to throw a whole head of garlic into a metal bowl, cover it with a second same-sized metal bowl, and then “shake the dickens out of it.”

derbOac 4y ago

I've talked to garlic vendors in the farmer's market, who sell nothing but garlic, and what they've said to me is the same as what's in this article. Some varieties are easier to peel, and some of them wait longer before selling them so they're easier to peel.