Garlic

A member of the lily family, garlic is a pungent cousin of onions, chives, leeks, and shallots. The edible garlic bulb grows beneath the ground. Each bulb is made up of sections called cloves. Each clove is encased in a papery covering that is removed before cooking. There are several varieties of garlic: the white skinned, strongly favored American garlic; the Mexican and Italian garlic, both of which are purplish and pinkish in skin coloring and milder in flavor; elephant garlic, the most mild flavored of the three but certainly the largest in size (more closely related to the leek); and green garlic, which is young garlic that is harvested before it matures into cloves.