Martin Fisher

Not here. This discount has reached its usage limit

Darn!!! Loosely based on VilleN's blog post — translated via Google Translate.

Three and a half days in a makeshift 'oven' — then dehydrated for about 3 hours. Not the same as the RioRand black garlic that I recently acquired. Not bad, just not the same — similar in some ways but a bit more 'garlicky', not as sweet, not as 'raisiny' as the RioRand. I'll taste it again after it's rested for a week or two. Given that they're not the same sub-variety or cultivar of garlic and likely not the same subspecies....there's no telling how similar they'd be even if the same process was followed. Anyway, my garlic from the garden isn't ready yet, so — because I have the patience and attention span of a gnat — I asked the better-half to pick up some garlic on the way home from work. Two bulbs of unequal size — one internally malformed. I should have waited and selected some better stuff, oh well. I soaked the whole bulbs in water for about an hour. Wrapped each bulb in moist paper towel (about 3/4" to 1" thick.) Then wrapped them fairly tightly with foil. Poked a tiny hole in the foil top and bottom. To smooth out temperature fluctuations, I put two 7 pound solid aluminum bricks in my small electric smoker — no, smoke, of course. That's for another time. The smoker was preheated to 185 to 190 degrees and stayed in that temperature range for the entire three and a half days. I put the garlic in a clay flower pot flipped over on it's base which was set on top of the aluminum bricks. I turned the garlic over every 12 hours. I removed the bulbs from the 'oven' this morning at 5:00AM, pulled them apart and dehydrated them for about 3 hours. Next I'll try the method (or similar) that Kerry posted about above.

Yeah, that's another reason why I wouldn't leave it (something I wanted to dry down) in the liquid.

Yes... and Siphon or dry ice.

I'm sure they'll have many more sales. And Black Friday is just 150 days away.

Yeah, shortly after chefmd posted. The code doesn't work for me now, either.

The code worked with the Wi-Fi model too (I put it in the cart and applied the code)...$199-$50=$149 and free shipping. Was very tempting but I think I'm going to order a Joule at some point.

Too bad it's gone. I was lucky to eat there a couple times before it closed.

It's not uncommon for the liquid to be fully or partially reabsorbed.

Give it time. Holding the exuded liquid in and leaving it in contact with the meat can be a bad thing. Said liquid can contain high concentrations nitrite/nitrate which can cause nitrite burn...a greenish/greyish discoloration of the meat and other issues. It's best to let that liquid drain away. If there's a problem with salt/cure not clinging well to the meat, divide it and apply it in separate applications a day or two apart. Grinding the salt/cure into a fine powder in a mortar and pestle will also help it cling well to the meat. Some pieces of meat exude noticeable amounts of liquid, some don't. Some pieces of meat firm up noticeable, some not so much.

Sure looks like mother of vinegar — that's what you want to see.

FWIW, Low-temperature Mailliard reaction.... Source: The Kitchen as Laboratory: Reflections on the Science of Food and Cooking, edited by César Vega, Job Ubbink, Erik van der Linden, pg. 95

Looks like a spreader spoon.

FWIW, I found a couple pics of Hunter's black garlic as well as a pic of black ramps on his Instagram. In the comments on the black ramps there's evidence that baking soda is involved. Baked baking soda — sodium carbonate — apparently. "I was at your talk at the MOFAD, I just tried following your method for black garlic on ramps this week myself, didn't turn out this nice. Should I have baked the baking soda longer for a darker color? And in was a bit damp but you wrapped yours in a damp towel in plastic wrap right?"

My comments have nothing to do with what you've said. Me too. Cost is another good reason.

I spent most of the day researching black garlic. I'm going to take anything that's published about black garlic with a HUGE grain of salt!!! Especially studies sponsored by food companies, as above. There are a plethora of wild health claims, origin claims, processing claims, science claims (in terms of what makes black garlic what it is)...TONS of conflicting information. Until I can find something concrete, I'm guessing that it's 'mostly' non-enzymatic browning....generally, slow 'Maillard' reaction. I read the summaries of a couple dozen or so patents; there are literally hundreds of patents relating black garlic processing! Pre-boiling, pre-freezing, pre-pressure cooking, bacterial fermentation before thermic processing, various additives in some cases....times, temperatures and humidity all over the place........ I'm not going to believe anything that's on a commercial black garlic label!!!!!! At this point all I care about is the taste, and 'possibly' making decent black garlic at home.

@Deryn Yes, LOTS of unanswered questions. When Dave uses the term "crockpot" he may just mean 'slow-cooker' in the general sense — as many folks do. I don't think all brands of slow-cookers operate exactly the same. Anyway, from the Crock-Pot website: "Crock-Pot® slow-cookers reach the simmer point and stabilize on both "High" and "Low" at about 209°F." "Both "High" and "Low" stabilize at the same temperature; it is just a matter of how long it takes to reach the simmer point. Once food reaches the simmer point, total cook time is dependent on cut and weight of meat to reach the point of maximum flavor and texture potential. Most dishes can be prepared on either "High or "Low.""

A spectrometer in every household!

@btbyrd and @VilleN I found Dave's very brief description of Jonny's 3-day technique in the March 1st show — Episode 241 — starting at about 48:50 Dave suggests that they may have Jonny call in to a future show to discuss it further — I don't think that ever happened. I've listened to all shows up through April — there's nothing more about black garlic. The RioRand arrived yesterday — standard cloves. It is real good.

I think everyone knows what food is. Fraud? "In law, fraud is deliberate deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain" Black's Law Dictionary definition of fraud, here.

Food fraud defined.

Most of the things I buy are quite simple and far from "high-end" I do lots of research before buying, read reviews, etc. to try to find products with a record of minimal problems. In spite of that, we do run into serious problems with some stuff. The fridge I bought last August, a "Whirlpool", draws numerous excellent reviews. I bought it on sale — 10% off regular price, with a "free" icemaker promotion — packaged separately — which I sold for $65.00 There is a very minor cosmetic issue for which they refunded ~$50 I bought a 5-year extended warranty for ~$100 Hopefully, it'll serve us well without serious issues!

Interesting read.... Food Fraud and “Economically Motivated Adulteration” of Food and Food Ingredients, 44 pages. "It is not known conclusively how widespread food fraud is in the United States or worldwide. In part, this is because those who commit food fraud want to avoid detection and do not necessarily intend to cause physical harm. Most incidents go undetected since they usually do not result in a food safety risk and consumers often do not notice a quality problem. Although the full scale of food fraud is not known, the number of documented incidents may be a small fraction of the true number of incidents."

Hazmat uniforms...with the local ambulance service on-call!