Allium sativum var. ophioscorodon.

The oldest companion of the human vegetable garden, and the only vegetable we plant just as everything else is coming to an end. Garlic has been cultivated for at least five thousand years. The species originated in the mountains of Central Asia, somewhere between present-day Iran, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, and spread from there to Egypt, China, and the Mediterranean basin well before writing was invented. The workers who built the pyramids received garlic rations for strength and endurance, and intact cloves were found in Tutankhamun's tomb, placed there for the journey.

The English word garlic comes from the Old English gārlēac, literally "spear-leek" (gār, spear; lēac, leek), referring to the tapered shape of the clove. The French word ail comes more simply from the Latin allium. Its medicinal reputation runs uninterrupted through recorded history and was reinforced in 1858, when Louis Pasteur documented its antibacterial properties. One culinary detail worth knowing: allicin, the molecule responsible for garlic's smell, pungency, and most of this activity, does not exist in an intact clove. It forms when the clove is crushed and two compounds that had previously been separate finally come into contact. A whole roasted clove is mild and sweet; the same clove, crushed, is sharp. Yet it is the very same clove.

An important distinction before going any further: hardneck garlic is not the garlic found in grocery stores. Commercial garlic is almost exclusively softneck, the type that can be braided, stores for a very long time, and grows in mild climates. Hardneck garlic needs a long period of cold to form a proper bulb. That is precisely why it is the only type truly suited to Québec, and precisely why it is rare in stores. It produces fewer cloves per bulb—six to ten rather than the twenty or so found in softneck garlic—but they are much larger, arranged in a single ring around a rigid central stem, the famous "hard neck." They are easy to peel and have a more direct, complex, and warming flavour.

It also produces something softneck garlic never will: garlic scapes. In June, a flower stalk rises from the centre of the plant and curls into a spiral. The name ophioscorodon comes from the Greek ophis, meaning snake, in tribute to this curl. The scape must be cut; otherwise, the plant puts its energy into making bulbils at the top rather than enlarging its bulb underground. And that is exactly what we eat. Grilled whole in a pan, it is sweet and crisp; chopped with oil, Parmesan, and sunflower seeds, it makes the best pesto of the summer; fermented in brine or pickled in vinegar, it keeps until the holidays. Two distinct harvests from a single plant.

The bulb itself arrives in July. Roast a whole head in foil in the oven until the cloves squeeze out like butter; confit it slowly in oil to have it all year; crush it raw into aioli, tzatziki, or Lebanese toum whipped with oil; or use dozens of whole cloves in forty-clove chicken. Garlic grown here, harvested at the right time, and properly cured simply does not taste the same as garlic that crossed an ocean in a crate.

Grower's tip: One bulb separates into six to ten cloves, and each clove becomes a complete bulb the following summer, so a package of ten bulbs yields sixty to one hundred plants. Separate the cloves just before planting, never weeks in advance, because they dehydrate. Plant in early to mid-October in Québec, two to three weeks before the ground freezes solid: early enough for roots to begin growing, but late enough that no leaves emerge. Place each clove with the point facing up, 5 to 8 cm deep and 15 cm from the next clove.

Next, apply 10 to 15 cm of straw mulch. This is non-negotiable in Québec because it prevents freeze-thaw cycles from lifting the cloves out of the ground. Leave everything alone until June, when you cut the garlic scapes. Harvest when the bottom three or four leaves have turned brown but the others are still green: each leaf corresponds to one wrapper around the bulb, and if you wait too long, no wrappers will remain to protect it. Cure for two to three weeks in a shaded, dry, well-ventilated place before bringing it indoors.

Garlic does not reproduce by seed: it clones itself. Every clove you replant is genetically identical to the mother plant. This means that if you save your largest bulbs each year for fall planting, your garlic gradually adapts to your soil, exposure, and winters. After a few years, it is no longer quite the same garlic you were sold. It is yours.

• Vegetative propagation by cloves, not by seed. Each clove reproduces the mother plant exactly. Save your largest bulbs for replanting.
• Height: 50 to 70 cm. Cut the garlic scapes that appear in June.
• Harvest: mid-July to early August, in the summer following planting.
• Exposure: full sun.
• Loose soil, rich in organic matter and very well drained. Garlic rots in waterlogged soil.
• Space cloves 15 cm apart within rows and rows 30 cm apart. Point facing up, 5 to 8 cm deep. A 10 to 15 cm layer of straw mulch is essential in Québec.
• Planting: late September to mid-October, two to three weeks before the ground freezes.
• Grown in Québec. Bulbs ship from approximately mid-September to early October.