Thermadrone: French Intrigue
A lovely softneck garlic with large long storing bulbs.
Picture: Buttery Thermadrone garlic bulbs in a tasty pile.
Culinary Qualities: This French softneck garlic is popular with chefs and will add an authentic flavor to your French dishes. If you are a Julia Child fan you will be pleasantly surprised at the difference adding this true French garlic can make in your cooking.
Thermadrone has a true deep garlic flavor with a Dijon-type mustard middle note. This is unlike any other garlic we have tasted and seems to blend especially well with butter. It adds distinct garlic flavor without hotness to meat stocks, sautéed chicken dishes, casseroles, stir-fries and other dishes. See our recipe selections for some good choices for this tasty softneck.
Special Attributes: This garlic multiples very quickly. One pound can easily become 8-10 pounds at harvest. Softneck garlic can be braided. The white bulbs with occasional purple and brown streaks are very large and have a flattened shape. Thermadrone can be stored under the proper conditions for 6-9 months.
Growing Considerations: Plant the biggest cloves for the best results. Thermadrone matures earlier than hardneck garlic and is moderately easy to grow. his is one of the first garlics we harvest.
Thermadrone multiples better than hardneck garlic and will deliver a very good harvest. This short floppy stemmed garlic competes poorly with weeds and can become buried by weeds fairly rapidly. It prefers a well drained soil. Bulbs should be harvested when plants begin to 'flop' over.
Thermadrone is so large and 'juicy' that it must be carefully cured for the best storing times. Be especially careful with the biggest fattest bulbs to prevent rot. When curing this softneck, we clip off roots, which take up moisture from the air, and spread the bulbs very thinly to ensure good air flow.
Most years we leave the garlic tops on until they dry, but if it is very wet and humid at harvest you may need to remove the top for faster drying time. We also advise using a fan to increase airflow around the wet bulbs in hot humid weather.
Cloves: 40-45 large cloves/lb. or 50-65 medium cloves/lb. The large white bulbs with brown and purple streaks contain 12-20 flattened cloves. These numbers are approximate and will vary slightly. Thermadrone has very variable sized cloves. Cloves are normally arranged in a spiral pattern with larger cloves on the outside of the bulbs and smaller inner cloves. Thermadrone cloves are smaller than most hardneck cloves but make up for it by growing larger bulbs.
Type: This is a softneck garlic in the Artichoke family. Although most softnecks do not send up scapes, occasionally Thermadrone will develop a large scape with huge bulbils.