this post was submitted on 21 Jul 2024
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Mildly Interesting

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[Image description: a perfectly round peeled bulb of garlic on a cutting board, with unpeeled normal cloves behind it.]

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[–] metostopholes 248 points 5 months ago (1 children)

When the recipe calls for one clove of garlic.

[–] [email protected] 173 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)
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[–] TropicalDingdong 139 points 5 months ago (4 children)

That's not done yet. Garlic looks like this when it hasn't 'split' into the clove parts yet. This will be bland and only have a mild flavor.

[–] thrawn21 65 points 5 months ago (1 children)

That makes sense, he was really undersized compared to the rest.

[–] idunnololz 16 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] WillFord27 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Why are you getting your uwu all over the garlic?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 5 months ago

Why are you not getting your uwu all over the garlic?

[–] AbouBenAdhem 13 points 5 months ago (1 children)

So some of the inner flesh toward the middle transforms into outer skin?

[–] TropicalDingdong 66 points 5 months ago (4 children)

So you've got two modes of reproduction with Allium. Allium like this typically follows a biennial habit, so this years garlic will split into cloves around the fall, in preparation for sending up a flowering stalk next spring/ summer. The cloves are vegetative propagules; just another way to get more garlic other than seeds. Hence you can just plant a clove and get a garlic next year, or, you can plant seed and also get garlic.

Now for your actually question, I believe the segmentation is probably exogenous, technically yes, however, I am by no means an expert in Allium morphology (although I have done graduate coarse work in plant morph, and worked in a plant morph lab), so don't quote me. However, it wouldn't appear like you are describing. Think of the ring at the base of a clove of garlic as a bunch of 'stems'. The branching would originate there.

[–] [email protected] 49 points 5 months ago (1 children)

How do I subscribe for more garlic facts?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

Me too please

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[–] kylie_kraft 57 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 33 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (23 children)

Here is another mildy interesting fact, in Swedish we group onions and garlic together by using the word "lök" with a color and different spacing to differentiate them:

"lök" - onion

"gul lök" - onion or yellow onion

"rödlök" - red onion

"vitlök" - garlic

We never talk about "vit lök", it doesn't really exist as a concept in Swedish, but we have more types of "lök"...

"gräslök" directly translates to "grass onion", but the proper translation is "chives"

"prujolök" is the Swedish name for "leek"

[–] [email protected] 30 points 5 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

Garlic, onions, chives, and leeks (plus shallots, spring onions / scallions, and ramsons) are actually very closely related, being part of the same allium genus. ~~That's the same level of closeness as dogs to wolves, for example~~ my example is bad, see AlotOfReading below

[–] AlotOfReading 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Dogs and wolves are the same species (Canis Lupus), not just members of the same genus. Genus Allium is much bigger than genus Canis (over 800 species) and its members are much less closely related to each other. The common food species are at least evolutionary cousins though, unlike other parts of the category. The onions and chives all share subgenus Cepa, while garlic and leeks are off in subgenus Allium.

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[–] PP_BOY_ 7 points 5 months ago

i love swedish. i drive an old volvo every day and frequently end up on weird SE-language forums as a result.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 months ago

That would be "schalottenlök"

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Funny, in Norwegian hvitløk is talked about a great deal.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Exactly the same in Finnish also. I wonder if these words came from Swedish into Finnish, even though our languages share different ancestors. I imagine all these onions came a lot after the base Swedish / Finnish was already established.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

What's the difference between "vitlök" and "vit lök"?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 months ago (2 children)

"vitlök" - garlic

"vit lök" - "white onion"

White onions does not exist.

[–] tacosplease 7 points 5 months ago (7 children)

We use white onions for Mexican food here in the US. I guess it's obscure enough that they aren't used in Europe. Not a huge taste difference between white and yellow onions.

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[–] dafo 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (6 children)
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[–] [email protected] 35 points 5 months ago (1 children)

On taking a closer look, I agree that this, indeed, is probably an onion.

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 5 months ago (1 children)

The fabled ultra clove! It's real!

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

THE ONE PIE-

[–] dojan 21 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (5 children)

There's a particular variety of Chinese garlic that grows as a singular bulb. It originates in the Yunnan province, I think. I remember my mother growing it back when I was a child. It's really nice!

[–] TropicalDingdong 15 points 5 months ago

All garlic looks like this if its been harvested too early.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but a garlic plant grows some form of a "seed" head, that will have miniature round bulbs in it if they aren't clipped off that, it's my understanding, when they are planted they'll grow like this in the first year and into a normal garlic bulb year two. I've never experimented enough to know if I'm correct, but if my info is correct I'd guess either one of those got mixed in by mistake, or if your planting in the same spot as the year prior one might've just fallen off.

[–] feedum_sneedson 4 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

bulbils

not always, but yes

this is a mutation though, and I've seen this kind of "single clove" garlic in the shops

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

I got one of those this year. I grow hard neck and must have missed the scape on this one.

The bulb and the "seed head"(?) in the pic are the same plant, just bent in half so both are visible

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago

ate the onion

[–] ben_dover 10 points 5 months ago

there's also a breed of garlic which always grows like that, you may have a "mutant" there

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago

Peak mildly interesting content

[–] Eczpurt 6 points 5 months ago

Like a garlic bath bomb

[–] Ironfacebuster 6 points 4 months ago

Reinventing the onion let's go

[–] bitchkat 5 points 5 months ago

That would have been great when my ex made lasagna and he didn't know the difference between a clove and a bulb.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 months ago

looks like an onion to me.

[–] Pheral 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That looks like Elephant garlic!

[–] thrawn21 3 points 4 months ago (2 children)

It might be! That was one of the varieties I planted this year, though the cloves I put in the ground looked like normal shaped cloves, just scaled up a bit.

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[–] AlpacaChariot 3 points 4 months ago
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