Is Garlic Old World or New World? (The Surprising Answer)
, by Earthwise Garlic, 4 min reading time
Garlic originated in Central Asia thousands of years ago, making it an Old World crop — but its journey to the Americas is more complicated than most people realize. Here's the full story.
Garlic is Old World. It originated in Central Asia thousands of years ago and spread through human trade and migration long before Europeans ever set foot in the Americas. But the full story of how it got to your garden is more interesting than that one-line answer.
Where Garlic Originally Came From
The wild ancestor of cultivated garlic, Allium longicuspis, is native to the mountain ranges of Central Asia, in what is now Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and neighboring regions. Humans have been cultivating garlic for at least 5,000 years, possibly longer. Archaeological evidence places it in ancient Egypt, where garlic was found in the tomb of Tutankhamun and reportedly fed to the workers who built the pyramids.
From Central Asia it traveled the ancient trade routes in every direction. It reached the Mediterranean by at least 3,000 BCE. Ancient Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians all used it extensively in cooking and medicine. By the time Rome was building its empire, garlic was already a staple across most of Europe, the Middle East, and Asia.
Is Garlic Native to the Americas?
No. Garlic is not native to North or South America. It was entirely unknown in the Americas before European contact.
This makes garlic unusual among foods we think of as globally universal. Corn, tomatoes, potatoes, and peppers are all New World crops that transformed Old World cuisine after 1492. Garlic traveled in the opposite direction. European colonizers and settlers brought it to the Americas, where it gradually became part of local food traditions.
When Did Garlic Arrive in North America?
Spanish explorers brought garlic to the Americas in the early 1500s. It spread through Central and South America first, carried by missionaries, settlers, and traders. In North America, garlic arrived with European colonists in the 1600s and was widely grown in kitchen gardens by the 1700s.
Native American tribes encountered and adopted garlic over time. The Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State are credited with preserving and developing what became Inchelium Red, one of our softneck varieties and one of the oldest garlic varieties documented in North America. It was grown on the Colville Indian Reservation in Inchelium, Washington, and selected over generations for mild flavor and exceptional storage.
How Many Garlic Varieties Exist?
There are hundreds of named varieties worldwide, developed over millennia of selection across different climates and culinary traditions. They fall into two main groups: hardneck and softneck, with further subdivision into types like Porcelain, Rocambole, Creole, Artichoke, and Silverskin.
The diversity reflects thousands of years of farmers choosing seed for local conditions: cold hardiness, flavor, storage life, clove size, disease resistance. Much of that diversity survives today only because small farms and seed savers have kept it going. Commercial agriculture consolidated around a handful of high-yield softneck varieties, mostly California strains, which is why supermarket garlic tastes so uniform.
Why Heirloom Varieties Matter
The varieties we grow at Earthwise Garlic each carry a piece of that history. Music was introduced to North America from Italy in the 1980s by a Canadian farmer named Al Music. Donostia Red traces its roots to the Basque region of Spain. Lorz Italian is an heirloom brought from Italy and preserved by the Lorz family in Washington State. Ukrainian Red is a Rocambole with Eastern European origins, adapted over generations to Pacific Northwest conditions.
Growing these varieties isn't just about flavor. Heirloom diversity that took thousands of years to develop can disappear within a generation if nobody plants it.
Garlic's Journey: A Quick Timeline
- ~5,000 BCE: Garlic cultivated in Central Asia
- ~3,000 BCE: Documented in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia
- ~500 BCE: Widely used across Greece, Rome, and the Middle East
- 1500s: Spanish colonizers bring garlic to the Americas
- 1600s to 1700s: Established in North American kitchen gardens
- 1800s to 1900s: Immigrant communities bring regional European varieties to the U.S.
- Late 1900s: Commercial agriculture consolidates; heirloom diversity starts to decline
- Today: Small farms and seed savers working to keep the full range alive
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is garlic Old World or New World?
A: Old World. Garlic originated in Central Asia and spread through the Middle East, Europe, and Asia long before European contact with the Americas.
Q: Is garlic native to North America?
A: No. It was brought to North America by European colonizers in the 1500s and 1600s.
Q: Is garlic from the new or old world?
A: The Old World. Its wild ancestor still grows in the mountain ranges of Central Asia.
Q: Did Native Americans grow garlic?
A: Not originally, since garlic isn't native to the Americas. Some Native American communities adopted it after European contact. The Colville Confederated Tribes in Washington State developed and preserved Inchelium Red, one of the most historically significant garlic varieties in North America.
Q: Where does most garlic come from today?
A: China produces roughly 80% of the world's garlic supply. Most supermarket garlic in the United States is imported from China, often treated with bleach, sprout inhibitors, and fungicides for long-distance shipping and extended shelf life.
If you'd rather plant garlic with a known history, grown without chemical treatments, browse our heirloom seed garlic varieties, all grown naturally in Coburg, Oregon and shipped in September for fall planting.