The bulbs of Chinese Purple Garlic have white skin with deep purple stripes on it.
Inside, there will be 7 to 12 cloves per bulb clumped tightly together, with brownish-purple skin.
The cloves have a very hot taste felt straightaway in the mouth.
The garlic is ready to harvest early, around June.
It belongs to the Turban sub-group of the artichoke group of garlics, itself a subgroup of softneck garlics. Despite this, it often grows with a hardneck.
Storage Hints
Chinese Purple Garlic stores better than most Turban types, some say up to 5 to 6 months, other say 7 to 9 months.