|
Garlic is a profitable crop for small to medium-sized vegetable
farmers in the U.S. Despite the increasing market for specialty
garlics it is remarkable how little is known about the diverse
types of garlic available. Farmers need to know which garlic
types perform well under their growing conditions, and
they need reliable names and descriptors to publicize these
types of garlic to their customers.
Garlic is a strange plant for a couple of reasons. It has
a biological elasticity - the same variety will express itself
differently in different latitudes, altitudes, climates, and
soils. The same garlic can look and taste very different.
It wasn't until 2003 when Dr. Gayle Volk of the USDA/ARS ran
DNA analysis
on several large collections and determined that we have ten
separate garlic types.
It isn't perfect but it's close enough. Now that we know there
are differences, we can go on to the next step and study them.
Without research and the knowledge it gives us we find ourselves
living in the "public domain" between common belief, fraud,
informal observations, and ancient wisdom. This was the world
of garlic for the past couple of thousand of years.
How did garlic, or any plant, get its name in the absence
of modern scientific protocols of classification? The first
is where it came from or where is it primarily grown i.e.:
German Red or California early; then the physical properties
i.e.: Brown Tempest or Chesnok Red; the farmer who promotes
the garlic i.e.: Music or Red Janice ; and lastly their market
of origin i.e.: Samarkand or Pyong Vang.
The name wasn't as important as it's pungency and storage
properties. Garlic was traded and swapped, carried by sailors
and soldiers, grandmother taught granddaughter, and the son
carried it to the next outpost on the frontier. For thousands
of years it lived in the public domain as a food and medicine,
and names changed.
For a long time we thought garlic originated in the southern
Ural Mountains of Russia, but now the experts feel its' origin
is a band from the Urals east into Asia.
This study is the first opportunity in history when we've
been able to truly observe and study the ten known garlic
types. Eleven participating
vegetable farmers will use sustainable practices to perform
the first multi-year garlic variety trial ever completed.
We will determine how the ten distinct garlic types respond
to cultural practices across eleven farms and then recommend
types that excel.
|
