Rocambole Garlic

For the Timpano party in June 2007, I went shopping at the San Francisco Farmer's Market, and discovered the Hunter Orchards booth with this really fresh garlic called Rocambole Garlic. From the information sheet:

It is delicious, robust, fragrant, pungent, and has a wonderful kick.

It is organically grown on rich composted soils. CCOF certified.

It has large individual cloves. Even when bulb size is small, the cloves are large.

IT IS INCREDIBLY EASY TO PEEL!!!!!

This is a stiff neck garlic that is not widely available. It is nearly impossible to find it in grocery stores, especially here on the West Coast. The varieties found in stores are usually of the soft neck type which are easier to harvest and process with equipment. In addition, because Rocambole needs a serious winter to bring out its full flavor, much of California is unsuitable for growing this great garlic. Our farm is located in Siskiyou County at an elevation of almost 3000 feet, where winter is definitely serious. The garlic loves it.

We have been growing this Rocambole variety since 1981, selecting and saving and planting our own seed each year. The original seed was obtained many years before, from a French miner in the Klamath River area of Northernmost California. Over the years so many people have insisted that this specific variety is: (choose one) Russian, Italian, Iranian, Chinese, French, or Spanish that, when pressed, we simply say that it is Klamath River Rocambole!

The stems were tough, but very fresh and also delicious.