Garlic

Allium sativum

Garlic is the most pungent common allium, with a sharp heat that mellows dramatically with age or heat. Its early-season scapes are also an important Northeast market ingredient.¹

Connections

Garlic is an allium alongside onion and leek. Crushing its tissue releases sulfur compounds called thiosulfinates, which account for much of the familiar pungent aroma.²

Further notes

Garlic originated in central Asia and has been cultivated for roughly 5,000 years. It is usually propagated from cloves because it rarely produces true seed.³

“Elephant garlic” is a misleading name: it belongs with the leeks and is not a true garlic. In Maine, hardneck garlic is generally the dependable type; its flower stalk is the scape, and the small structures in its flower head are often bulbils—little clonal propagules—rather than seeds.³

Footnotes

1. University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Food & Nutrition for the Home Gardener,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩

2. U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service, “Boosting the Nutritional Bounty of Carrots and Onions,” 2022. ↩

3. University of Maine Cooperative Extension, “Growing Garlic in Maine,” accessed July 17, 2026. ↩ ↩²