Thursday, April 2, 2009

Black Garlic

If you opened a bulb of garlic and the cloves looked like they do above, would you be worried? You can ease your mind as there is nothing wrong with this garlic. It is neither burned, diseased, rotted or spoiled. In fact, it is exactly the color it should be as it is Black Garlic, a hot new ingredient that is just starting to spread across the U.S. It has received plenty of recent attention and has been shown on television shows like Iron Chef and Top Chef. Discussions of this intriguing ingredient have also spread quickly across many food blogs.

I recently received some samples of black garlic from Black Garlic Inc., the only company in the U.S. currently producing it. The black garlic can be purchased online from Mondo Food, either as a 1.26 oz package ($3.30) containing two bulbs, or a 1 pound bag ($20) containing about 16 bulbs. I think this is a reasonable price for what you receive.

Black garlic is regular garlic that has undergone a special fermentation process which turns it a black color. Plus, the garlic becomes sweet with more muted garlic flavors. It seems almost like a soft, jelly-like piece of fruit. It is alleged that black garlic provides special health benefits, though I have been unable to locate any supporting medical evidence. Black garlic is supposed to have nearly twice as many antioxidants as raw garlic. Plus, it contains S-Allycysteine, which is supposed to help cancer prevention and fight cholesterol. Regular garlic does not contain S-Allycysteine.

Scott Kim, the CEO and inventor of Black Garlic Inc., began to create his product in South Korea in 2004. Black garlic is supposed to have a lengthy history in Korea and China. Scott eventually brought into the company John Yi, a longtime garlic producer. As to the secret as how black garlic is made, the company's website is vague, stating only the following: "It’s aged for a month in a special fermentation process under high heat, where it develops its darker color, softer texture, and sweeter taste."

I did a little investigation, seeking more information about the fermentation process. At the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, I uncovered only a single patent application dealing with black garlic though it is unclear whether it involves Black Garlic, Inc. or not. Nonetheless, it provides a look into how black garlic may be created. The inventors are listed as Gyu-Bae Han, Inn-Hwan Song and Ki-Yeol Eom, all from Korea. The method involves aging the garlic with hot air for 14.5 days, then naturally drying the garlic pieces for about 40 hours, and then aging it again with hot air for another 30 to 50 hours. This process may be similar to what is used at Black Garlic, Inc.

So how does black garlic taste? My first foray with black garlic is pictured above. It is a panko-crusted tilapia with a black garlic sauce atop thin egg noodles. The sauce had butter, Sake, olive oil, teriyaki sauce and black garlic. It was quite good, the garlic adding a nice sweetness to the dish, complementing the flavor of the moist, white fish. Though there is an underlying garlic flavor, it is more subtle than what you get with regular garlic. And your breath does not take on the usual garlic smell either.

I also had a black garlic butter, smeared on some French bread which was briefly baked in the oven. Though it looks like it is burnt, it is not. It is just the black color of the garlic. This was not too bad but I think a better recipe for the butter could be created. It did add an interesting sweetness to the bread, though maybe a bit of spice or some herbs could have been added to balance off that sweetness. Plus, it does not look too appealing as is, looking too much like burnt bread.

I think black garlic is a versatile ingredient, which can be used in a wide variety of recipes. It will add a bit of sweetness to your receipes, but still with some garlic flavor. I'll be conducting some more culinary tests with the black garlic, trying different recipes, and I'll report back in the near future. I am initially very pleased with the black garlic and believe it has lots of potential.

15 comments:

farley said...

Mmmm. It all sounds very good to this garlic fanatic. Thanks for the info on how to get it.

adele said...

Looks like interesting stuff. The tilapia sounds delicious.

Jen said...

Looks like a fun and inspiring ingredient!

Tom said...

I just purchased some black garlic from Mondo. I tried it raw and I have to tell you, I've never had anything like it. This stuff is awesome, and I cant wait to try cooking with it!

Vladimir said...

I am not against garlic or black garlic as spice,food supplement or dessert.However,it would be nice to confirm or rule out antioxidant and anti-cancer activity of the spice.If it is not confirmed,than burned,black garlic,possibly with high cancerogenic activity(as all burned products are) and no anti-oxidants(since it were all killed with high heat) ,will turn into another "snake oil",which looks to me like one now.

Austin said...

Vladimir, although I have some doubt about the amount of antioxidants in black garlic, I can tell you that black garlic is everything but burnt. The garlic is fairly close to the texture of a date and has a sweet flavor with garlic undertones (it's very much like eating raw or partially dried fruit)

cyclechef said...

I recently recieved 4 heads of black garlic and I made the black garlic aioli recipe on blackgarlic.com. Very nice product and the aioli would be great as a topping for a fine steak.

Dazy said...

I like marinated yellow fin tuna of Aqua, surrounded by little blobs of separate sauces: red pepper, coconut, black garlic. I'm seeking recipe for this.

#BlacGarlicNews said...

Hi if you want to see the real originators of Black garlic visit
http://www.blackgarliconline.com

Unknown said...

I just made some black garlic at home. Process is not that hard. Really simple in fact.

Vegan Queso said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Correction to your blog: there are 2 US food manufacturers selling black garlic now. Culinary Elite and Black Garlic Inc.

Richard Auffrey said...

Thanks for the updated info.

Unknown said...

I have just discovered black garlic and although I find it really hard to work with, all the effort is worth the epic taste at the end!

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