Black Garlic

AS_Platinum · 21 Dec 2013 at 17:12

Just got my delivery from The Garlic lovers club (aka the garlic farm in the IOW) and received Black Garlic. And OMG is this stuff just awesome or what!

Shall I just nom nom it by itself or use it for something?

seabiscuit · 21 Dec 2013 at 17:34

So other than the colour, what makes it so different? Glad to hear you like it and would be interested in you telling us more about it.

MrMarvelous · 21 Dec 2013 at 17:51

Would like to know too. I used a lot of Garlic and i've never heard of this stuff.

glitch · 21 Dec 2013 at 17:55

seabiscuit said:
So other than the colour, what makes it so different?

It's fermented garlic - although fermentation isn't really an accurate description of the processes within, as it's more about slow caramelisation of the sugars inherent in garlic and the Maillard reaction.

What you get are deep black cloves of garlic without any of the bitterness or astringency that you'd expect to find, but instead a deep, rich, slightly sugary, almost liquorice flavour with bags of umami and a rich, dark caramel sweetness and slightly burnt flavour underpinning the whole thing.

Amazing stuff. Pairs with everything from savoury dishes to desserts and works as a whole, in slices, dices, cubes, pureed, whatever.

bsoltan · 21 Dec 2013 at 19:22

Sounds good!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_garlic_(food)

In Iranian cuisine they have pickled garlic where you'd take cloves or bulbs and put them in strong vinegar for a long time (it also goes black). This softens it up and changes the flavour it is then served as a side to meals.

Mmm garlic.

Jolteh · 21 Dec 2013 at 20:55

I found it looks and smells a lot better raw than whatever you use it for.

I make a black garlic risotto once and it came out pretty mild.

FrenchTart · 22 Dec 2013 at 11:52

Jolteh said:
I found it looks and smells a lot better raw than whatever you use it for.

I make a black garlic risotto once and it came out pretty mild.

Clearly an excuse to add even more garlic

Deleted member 66701 · 22 Dec 2013 at 11:56

glitch said:
It's fermented garlic

No it's not. It's formed by heating, not a biological action.

Jolteh · 22 Dec 2013 at 15:16

FrenchTart said:
Clearly an excuse to add even more garlic

Ha, I agree! I whacked the whole bulb in a risotto for two, which would have normally blown our heads off, but seemed barely noticeable.

I'm sure it's a great ingredient in the right recipe though.

Black Garlic

Deleted member 66701

Deleted member 66701