A Detailed Guide to Cultivating and Eating Purple-Skinned Garlic

Purple-skinned garlic is renowned for its plump cloves, abundant juice, intense pungent flavor, and the fact that it does not lose its taste when mashed into a paste. It is not only a nutritious and delicious seasoning, but its garlic sprouts and garlic scapes are also good vegetables that people enjoy eating. So, how do you cultivate purple-skinned garlic?

I. Cultivation Methods for Purple-Skinned Garlic

1. Sowing Time

Purple-skinned garlic is a crop that favors warmth, and the most suitable sowing time is from August to September each year. Of course, in cool regions or relatively hot and humid regions, you must adapt to local conditions and analyze each specific situation individually. However, purple-skinned garlic should not be sown too early, otherwise the garlic is very prone to leaf blight, which will cause the plants to age prematurely.

2. Planting Density

When cultivating purple-skinned garlic, the planting density should be neither too high nor too low; basically, about 51,000 to 61,000 plants per mu is optimal. Too high a density may lead to insufficient yield, while too low a density may lead to insufficient light, causing purple-skinned garlic to wither and turn yellow and be unable to grow. When sowing purple-skinned garlic, the most suitable method is dibbling, and about 130 kg of seed is needed per mu.

3. Fertilization

Garlic is a crop that likes fertilizer and tolerates it. In cultivation, organic fertilizer is mainly used, with increased application of N fertilizer and combined use of P and K fertilizers. The application rate of organic fertilizer is 60 cubic meters per hectare, mostly human manure and urine and the manure and urine of livestock such as pigs, cattle, and sheep; applying it after decomposition during autumn plowing gives the best effect. Chemical fertilizer used as a base fertilizer should be applied during spring harrowing, generally 375 kg per hectare of diammonium phosphate or 750 kg per hectare of superphosphate. For topdressing, quick-acting nitrogen fertilizer urea is mainly used. The application rate is 450 kg per hectare. It is applied in split doses during the garlic seedling stage, the flower stalk elongation stage, and the bulb expansion stage. If plants show signs of fertilizer deficiency or premature aging in the later growth stage, potassium dihydrogen phosphate and trace-element fertilizers can be sprayed on the leaves.

4. Watering

Before the young seedlings grow 4 leaves, try not to water; only water if there is a very dry situation. Use this method to maintain soil temperature and promote the rapid growth of purple-skinned garlic. When purple-skinned garlic grows to 7-8 leaves, water once a week so that the purple-skinned garlic maintains sufficient moisture during growth.

II. How to Eat Purple-Skinned Garlic

Garlic has the effects of improving immunity, stimulating appetite, neutralizing various toxins, and promoting water metabolism, but garlic is pungent and warm, and eating too much generates internal heat and irritates certain areas; people with yin deficiency and excess fire, or with ailments of the eyes, mouth, or tongue, should not eat it, otherwise it will instead cause adverse effects. So, how should purple-skinned garlic be eaten?

1. Garlic can be eaten raw, mashed into paste, roasted, decocted into soup to drink, or mashed into juice for external application, or sliced and used for moxibustion at acupoints.

2. Sprouted garlic has very little dietary therapeutic effect, and pickled garlic should not be kept for too long, so as not to destroy the active ingredients.

3. Before a dish is fully cooked and removed from the wok, adding some minced garlic can enhance the flavor of the dish.

4. Adding some garlic chunks when braising fish or cooking meat can remove fishiness and eliminate off-odors.

5. Adding some garlic paste when making cold dressed dishes can make the fragrant and spicy flavor stronger.

6. Mix sesame oil, soy sauce, and the like with garlic paste, and it can be used as a dip when eating liangfen or dumplings.

After reading this article, are you also eager to try growing purple-skinned garlic?