Wando Cheongsando, Native 'Elephant Garlic Flowers' Dyeing Purple Hue

Elephant Garlic Emerging as a New Agricultural Income and Landscape Crop

Elephant garlic flowers in full bloom on Cheongsando Island, Wando (Photo by Wando County)

[Wando＝Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Choi Kyungpil] Wando Cheongsando is attracting attention as it is dyed with the purple flowers of elephant garlic.

According to the county on the 14th, elephant garlic is a native Korean garlic, and in Wando-gun, a cultivation project was promoted on an area of 29,700㎡ (about 9,000 pyeong) including Cheongsando Seopyeonje filming site, Buheung-ri, Dangnak-ri, Eup-ri, and Docheong-ri, for the purpose of fostering marine healing functional resources. Cheongsando is Asia’s first Slow City.

Elephant garlic is a large bulb crop belonging to the lily family of the order Liliales, tastes similar to onion, and is 7 to 10 times larger than regular garlic, also called ‘Jumbo’, ‘Great King’, or ‘King Garlic’.

While a single clove of regular garlic weighs about 5 to 8g, a single clove of elephant garlic weighs 30 to 60g.

The native elephant garlic cultivated in Cheongsando differs from the conventional garlic cultivation method by not removing all garlic scapes but leaving and removing them in a lattice pattern, providing a view of large purple elephant garlic flowers, emerging as a scenic crop.

Elephant garlic also has excellent efficacy. In particular, the content of scordinin, which has tonic, muscle-enhancing, and cancer-preventive effects, is more than twice that of regular garlic.

Its allicin content is also high, known to help with sterilization and antibacterial action as well as blood circulation, digestion, and diabetes.

Elephant garlic can be enjoyed in salads or bibimbap, or as black garlic or extract. When eaten raw, it has medicinal properties and a slightly bitter taste.

Blanching in boiling water removes the bitterness, making it suitable for pickling or stir-frying, which reduces the spiciness and enhances the sweetness, making it easier to eat.

Wando-gun is developing the purple flowers that taste like garlic, garlic scapes, and bulbs with a taste between garlic and onion as representative local foods and functional nutritional foods.

Lee Bok-seon, director of the Wando-gun Agricultural Technology Center, said, “Elephant garlic is achieving a win-win effect by increasing farmers’ income through agricultural product sales as well as providing a visual attraction.”

For information about elephant garlic, contact the Income Crops Team at the Wando-gun Agricultural Technology Center.