Elephant garlic

Ail éléphant

What it is

Not garlic at all but a leek that forms a bulb, which explains everything about it: cloves the size of walnuts, and a fraction of true garlic's bite. Growers in Oregon marketed it under the elephant name in the 1940s and the botany never caught up.

In the kitchen

Treat it as a vegetable, not a seasoning. Roast whole cloves in oil until they collapse — used raw as garlic it disappoints.

Goes with

Olive oil Thyme Butter Rosemary Lemon Black pepper Potato Parsley

Same species

Arleux smoked garlic Banana shallot Black garlic Calçot Cévennes sweet onion Chives

In season alongside

Coco de Paimpol Broad bean Green garlic Lautrec pink garlic Pearl onion Red onion

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