Black Garlic

[JustJoel]

We have an upscale supermarket nearby, but not close enough to get to every day; that’s a good thing, because if I could get there every day, I’d spend way too much money!

Anyway, I was browsing in the produce section and came across some black garlic. I was intrigued, but I didn’t buy any because I have no idea how it tastes or what to do with it. Are any of you familiar with black garlic? How is it different from regular garlic, and how do you use it? Is it just another food fad?

 

[CraigC]

Got a container in the pantry.

 

[JustJoel]

Got a container in the pantry.

How do you use it? Replace regular garlic with black garlic? Or is it more suited to some dishes with garlic, but not others. Is it stronger or mild than regular garlic, or is it a completely different flavor?

The guy in the produce section at the store didn’t know jack. And I’d rather hear from folks I trust who have used it than just googling it. That’s why I love this forum! So my apologies for all these nagging questions.

I will google it, of course, but I’d like to hear from someone who’s actually used it and tasted it.

 

[CraigC]

This is what we made.
https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/congee-caramelized-pork-with-crispy-shallots-and-black-garlic

 

[JustJoel]

This is what we made.
https://www.blueapron.com/recipes/congee-caramelized-pork-with-crispy-shallots-and-black-garlic

Thanks for sharing that! The website the recipe is on is very informative, especially about some the more exotic ingredients. I don’t think I’ll be making this anytime soon, but gives me a little insight into how to use the black garlic!

 

[medtran49]

We have made the congee twice, first time with regular garlic and the second time with black. Made a big difference in flavor, good with regular, great with black. I know it's kind of an odd sounding recipe, but Tom Collichio (sp?) just raved about how good it was and it was the winning dish that week, with part of the prize being featured as a Blue Apron dish.

Glad you brought this up though. We decided we wanted to explore more recipes using black garlic, but it got pushed to back of fridge and forgotten.

 

[medtran49]

Lordy they have recipes for black garlic brownies, fudge, cake, ice cream. Guess I should have known since they have those for regular garlic too.

 

[JustJoel]

I’ve had garlic ice cream, once. Not black garlic, just garlic. It was odd.

 

[medtran49]

We made this black garlic and coconut chicken curry - BigSpud last night. Let me be clear, it is an English curry, no spice heat at all. I did use a whole head of the black garlic we have because it's tiny, just slightly bigger than a quarter around. I'd also cut down on the broth by at least a third and add more if needed as it was a bit too brothy for me. The ingredient with the odd name is a sweet thick soy sauce you will have to go to Oriental market for but they should have it. We had it in fridge and that was pretty much it for the bottle though I don't what else we have used it for. We liked it. Needed agressive salt and pepper, for us at least. Craig kept commenting there was no heat and I kept reminding him it was an English curry.

I'd forgotten how good the black garlic smells, can't really describe it other than saying you are smelling umami.