# do you cook with elephant garlic? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2013, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260 "2013-02-14T05:35:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/1 "2013-02-14T05:35:23Z")
I just threw away a pot of spaghetti sauce because it didn’t smell or taste right from the get go. I started the sauce as usual by sauteing garlic in oil but the newly tried elephant garlic never achieved the normal nutty bloom that regular garlic makes. after an hr of cooking I just threw it out. It smelled weird like I was cooking paint. I now realize that this is not even from the garlic family. Is the taste that radically different? ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/2 "2013-02-14T06:10:07Z")
It’s leeks isn’t it? I’ve never tried it. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/3 "2013-02-14T06:13:42Z")
I tried elephant garlic once. It didn’t really taste like real garlic at all. It was much weaker than normal garlic and had some weird off taste. It was awful and I tossed it. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/4 "2013-02-14T06:52:04Z")
> [@astro](#): > > I tried elephant garlic once. It didn’t really taste like real garlic at all. It was much weaker than normal garlic and had some weird off taste. It was awful and I tossed it. That’s exactly it. It was a very strange taste and it didn’t remotely remind me of garlic. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/5 "2013-02-14T06:55:10Z")
Put me down as not a fan. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/6 "2013-02-14T12:49:50Z")
I bought it once thinking, yeah! giant garlic! I’m gonna garlic me up some mashed potatoes! I didn’t find it had an off taste. It just tasted like garlic with all the flavor taken out. Elephant garlic is the un-garlic. Reminded me of those big, red juicy looking strawberries that appear off-season. When you bite into them they taste like-- water. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/7 "2013-02-14T13:01:24Z")
**Thou shalt not diss the Allium family** You’re expecting too much from elephant garlic because it’s called garlic. Anticipate a much milder, more oniony flavor and it’s fine. I’m growing some currently, alongside “real” and much more pungent garlics. Looking forward to harvesting those baseball-sized heads. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/8 "2013-02-14T13:16:09Z")
I bought it once, thinking it would be great or they couldn’t charge as much as they were. Never bought it again. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/9 "2013-02-14T13:17:43Z")
I once cooked some elephant garlic in my pyjamas. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-cook-with-elephant-garlic/650260/10 "2013-02-14T15:11:37Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > **Thou shalt not diss the Allium family** > > You’re expecting too much from elephant garlic because it’s called garlic. Anticipate a much milder, more oniony flavor and it’s fine. > > I’m growing some currently, alongside “real” and much more pungent garlics. Looking forward to harvesting those baseball-sized heads. I tried to compensate for the “mild” flavor by adding more. It didn’t produce the right taste at all when sauteed. Not even close.