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

  • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    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.

      • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        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.

    • stoy@lemmy.zip
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      2 months ago

      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”

      • Skua@kbin.earth
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        2 months ago

        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

        • AlotOfReading@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          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.

      • mommykink@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

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

          • viking@infosec.pub
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            2 months ago

            Yes, hvitløk = vitlök in Swedish. It’s the same word really (the h is silent), and ø (Norwegian, Danish) = ö (Swedish, Finnish, German).

            • stoy@lemmy.zip
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              2 months ago

              Ah, I think you missed the spacing when I said that “vit lök” wasn’t a thing in Swedish, “vitlök” is as you say “garlic”, and is a common word

        • stoy@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          “vitlök” - garlic

          “vit lök” - “white onion”

          White onions does not exist.

          • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            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.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Looks at his red onion cheese Quesadilla…

              I thought it was Whateveronionyoualreadyhavecutinthefridge?

      • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        We never talk about “vit lök”, it doesn’t really exist as a concept in Swedish,

        Do you mean to say there isn’t garlic in Sweden??

        • stoy@lemmy.zip
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          2 months ago

          As I said, garlic is called “vitlök”, not “vit lök”

          “Vit lök” means “white onion”, and does not exist

          • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            Given what you wrote, my question makes sense. Not sure why I was downvoted for a reasonable question.

            • stoy@lemmy.zip
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              2 months ago

              Because I just explained it and even noted the spacing difference between “vitlök” and “vit lök”

              • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                You didn’t explain it originally. You could have easily but you didn’t. Apologies for being curious. I do know that most Swedes aren’t jerks.

  • Dojan@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    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!

  • rjthyen@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    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.

    • DinosaurSr@programming.dev
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      2 months ago

      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

    • feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world
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      2 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

  • ben_dover@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    there’s also a breed of garlic which always grows like that, you may have a “mutant” there

  • bitchkat@lemmy.world
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    2 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.