Hardneck garlic sends up a growth “the “Bulbil” from the centre of the plant commonly called "scapes, garlic flowers, stems, whips, or tops", anywhere from May to June depending on your zone. The most common practice is to remove the scape and eat it, as it is considered one of the greatest culinary garlic delicacies by cultures in the know. With removal of the scape the plant tends to refocus its energy to produce larger bulbs. One study placed the optimal time for this at 7-11 days after emergence for greatest impact on increased bulb size; some say as much as 20%. If the scapes are left on the plant to mature, the pod will produce little garlics inside called “bulbils”. These bulbils although they look like seeds, are actually little garlics that will grow vegetatively as a clone into a bulb if carefully nurtured over a period of years. The Hardneck or Porcelain garlic plant has a strong thick stalk and is the tallest of all varieties. It has 4-7 big-ass cloves that grow around the hard stem of the plant in a single layer (hence nickname “garlic on a stick”). The skin on the cloves present white to very light brown, even red or purple at times, and peels eagerly from the flesh. Rocambole plants are squatter with generally broader leaves in structure, more foliage, and fewer bulbils in the scape head. Rocambole's 7-12 cloves peel easily as well and will often present darker skin and “doubles” or 2 cloves attached together are not uncommon. On average Rocamboles can harvest up to 10 days after Hardnecks. Purple Stripe & Marbled Purples generally have more cloves than the Rocamboles, with leaves growing at angles away from stock. As the name suggests clove skin and bulb wrapper colour are more consistently purple regardless of soil type.

The cultures with the highest garlic consumption per capita are particular about flavour profiles. Koreans eat on average 50 lbs of garlic per year compared to North Americans at around 3lb. Loosely translated, their nickname "Yook Cho" for Hardneck comes out as 6 chunk garlic, or is often referred to as "cold garlic". They even began and lost a costly trade war with China to minimize softneck garlic in their market, and in spite of the lower-priced Chinese, today many Koreans still pay a premium to maintain their local Hardneck favourites.

Southeastern Europeans are passionate about Rocamboles or what they call Red Garlic. Rumor and some science say there is higher sugar content in garlic than grapes, and this would tend to support Hardnecks superior flavour claims when it is caramelized during the roasting. A 1996 study from the University of Guelph suggests that higher allicin contents are present in Hardneck varieties. This author’s bias in favour of Hardneck Garlic should becoming clearly apparent to even the least discerning reader.