Peeled Garlic

[cbread]

My hated local supermarket seems to get the produce the rest of your markets reject. Most of their garlic hangs tenaciously onto it's skin, making peeling an annoying waste of time, simply a chore. I can gently whack it, mightily whack it or thump it somewhere in between, but no matter how, the skin frequently has to be extricated tiny fragment by tiny fragment.

I hate peeling the second rate stuff our market sells. Not to mention how many cloves are utter waste because they are rotted or whatever. To hear that some pre-peeled garlics may be worth trying is a revelation. I'm going to try some.

[Blether]

There's been a certain amount of dicussion in the forums about garlic / herb infusions and the risks of botulism.

From this thread, it seems this garlic is packaged in (air-tight ?) plastic jars. I see vacuum-packed peeled garlic cloves in the markets, too, sometimes.

Steven, do you know if the pre-peeled garlic has been sterilised / treated so that it's also rendered safe for longer-term infusion in oil ? I was wondering about this this morning, as I mixed up another single-serving batch of vinaigrette - another oil-based product with raw garlic immersed in it, albeit minced one way or another.

Edited August 24, 2009 by Blether (log)

[ray goud]

There's been a certain amount of dicussion in the forums about garlic / herb infusions and the risks of botulism.

From this thread, it seems this garlic is packaged in (air-tight ?) plastic jars.  I see vacuum-packed peeled garlic cloves in the markets, too, sometimes.

Steven, do you know if the pre-peeled garlic has been sterilised / treated so that it's also rendered safe for longer-term infusion in oil ?  I was wondering about this this morning, as I mixed up another single-serving batch of vinaigrette - another oil-based product with raw garlic immersed in it, albeit minced one way or another.

←

I am not Steven, but I can't help but put my two cents in, being a long-time "student" of food benefits and dangers.

Since the garlic I've seen (peeled) is always refrigerated, the conclusion to be drawn is that it has not been treated in any meaningful way to kill any bacteria. The refrigeration merely slows everything down, which is why there is usually an expiration date. So one would conclude that such peeled garlic is just as iffy to use in an infused oil as raw unpeeled garlic.

If we could find a non-refrigerated peeled garlic (anyone, out there?) the chances would be better that it was safe for long-term stotrage of any kind, especially if it carried a package expiration date on the order of a couple of years. If I wanted to infuse an oil with garlic, I would heat it hot enough and long enough to kill the anaerobic beasties, and then still refrigerate the oil anyway.

Ray

[Dave Hatfield]

All of this recent discussion about garlic inspired me to take some garlic pictures at Caussade market today. Here they are:

Now, looking at these how could anyone even contemplate using the pre-prepared stuff. I know some of the response will be that "We just can't find garlic like that here"

Maybe, but I suspect that in most places you can if you really look. Wholefoods? Chinese or Korean grocers? Wherever.

Even though I don't live in the states I would think it would be good idea if eGulleteers around the country chimed in with their best local source of fresh garlic.

Its too important an ingredient to allow poor quality or inferior substitutes to prevail.

For a complete pictorial tour of Caussade market go to my website listed below.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Even though I don't live in the states I would think it would be good idea if eGulleteers around the country chimed in with their best local source of fresh garlic.

Its too important an ingredient  to allow poor quality or inferior substitutes to prevail.

←

Rocambole garlic from Keith's Farm, Westtown, New York, sold at the Union Square Greenmarket.

[Toliver]

It may be heresy to some but my mom freezes her peeled cloves of garlic. This is garlic that will eventually go into baked or cooked dishes so it doesn't matter that the freezing will make them a little mushy when thawed.

But that does pose a question for those who purchase the mega jars of peeled garlic from Costco-type stores...how long do they last in the refrigerator? Are they treated with something to allow them to keep or are you running against the clock and an expiration date once you open the jar?

[Darienne]

It may be heresy to some but my mom freezes her peeled cloves of garlic. This is garlic that will eventually go into baked or cooked dishes so it doesn't matter that the freezing will make them a little mushy when thawed.

But that does pose a question for those who purchase the mega jars of peeled garlic from Costco-type stores...how long do they last in the refrigerator? Are they treated with something to allow them to keep or are you running against the clock and an expiration date once you open the jar?

←

I haven't done a double-blind test on the subject, but a friend once gave me two ginormous bottles of garlic from Costco. I think it was two years before the second one was completely used up...what with roasted garlic and fresh garlic and such...and I kept wondering about the food poisoning issue. Maybe we were just lucky.

[Fat Guy]

Now, looking at these how could anyone even contemplate using the pre-prepared stuff.

←

If it's more convenient and doesn't result in a loss of quality then it's easy to see how a rational person could contemplate using pre-peeled garlic. If it results in a loss of quality then that's another story. But so far nothing has been established. The only semi-objective analysis seems to be something done by Cook's Illustrated but I haven't read it.

[Fat Guy]

Steven, do you know if the pre-peeled garlic has been sterilised / treated so that it's also rendered safe for longer-term infusion in oil ?

←

According to Mark Bittman's article in the New York Times, which I cited earlier, the answer is no:

A worker was cleaning a warehouse with an air hose, saw a coffee can with garlic in it, and sprayed some of the compressed air into the can. "The peels came flying right off," Ms. Ross said. So now high-pressure air is blown onto cloves in stainless steel buckets. That's it; there are no preservatives, and the garlic is packed in ordinary jars.

That's the case, at least, with the Christopher Ranch product.

[Blether]

... That's the case, at least, with the Christopher Ranch product.

←

Thanks.

... If I wanted to infuse an oil with garlic, I would heat it hot enough and long enough to kill the anaerobic beasties, and then still refrigerate the oil anyway.

Ray

←

May I ask how you'd do that ? Do you know what's the domestic equivalent of a "12D process" (I know I don't !) ?

Edited August 25, 2009 by Blether (log)

[fooey]

I could eat garlic for breakfast, so I had to try it, I did a taste test:

One clove from the pre-peeled jar, 1 clove fresh, both the same temperature, popped into my mouth, chomp, chomp.

Results: I found the pre-peeled stuff to be significantly inferior to fresh. The fresh was so much more potent that it settled this issue for me for good.

I didn't waste the jar of pre-peeled, but I did double whatever the recipe called for when using it. That worked, but it's not the same. I finished off the jar by baking loaves of Dan Lepard's garlic bread.

Edited August 25, 2009 by fooey (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Results: I found the pre-peeled stuff to be significantly inferior to fresh. The fresh was so much more potent that it settled this issue for me for good.

←

I'm not sure pure potency is a good measure: in most dishes you can simply adjust the amount of garlic you are using to compensate. I have to do that anyway with the crappy garlic available here most of the year. The question, I think, is more subtle: adjusting for potency, do dishes taste BETTER with fresh garlic than with jarred?

[fooey]

Tangent, but...

If you need a recipe to use up your garlic, try Silver Bill's Garbanero Tongue-Twister Hot Sauce:

A half cup of Silver Bill's Garbanero Tongue-Twister Hot Sauce is rumored to be capable of reviving a horse that's been dead less than an hour.

Ingredients

1 quart peeled garlic cloves

6 to 12 bright red habanero peppers

2 6-ounce bottles Goya Louisiana Hot Sauce

1 tablespoon seasoned salt

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Snip the cluster end off each garlic clove. Remove seeds from the habanero peppers. Use at least 6 habaneros or more, depending upon their size and the maker's taste and/or threshold of pain.

Combine all ingredients and liquefy in a blender. For a thinner sauce, add more Goya Hot Sauce.

[fooey]

Do dishes taste BETTER with fresh garlic than with jarred?

I think they absolutely do.

One thing I noticed is that the pre-peeled are not at all sticky.

They're lacking whatever fresh garlic has (essential oils?) that make garlic so potent, the sticky substance that, before you wash it off, makes you want to eat your fingers it smells so good.

You'll find the same thing missing with pre-peeled shallots (complete waste of money, IMO).

When cooking Chinese, I always have to be careful not to let the garlic stick to the wok. With the pre-peeled stuff, it doesn't stick at all. Non-stick garlic might have some appeal, but not when the flavour is compromised.

Edited August 25, 2009 by fooey (log)

[fooey]

re: Bittman http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/309785

hello, I think the pre-peeled stuff might be o.k. when you have a dish that requires a lot, AND good fresh garlic is impossible to find because of your geographic/seasonal predicament. Right now great garlic is at its peak. I cringed when a prominent food writer (M.Bittman) praised the pre-peeled stuff for some gobs-of-garlic preparations, but I realized he was writing mid-winter for a audience that doesn't always have access to serious produce markets. Homemakers who need to work fulltime elsewhere get into a time crunch, and I can see the pre-peeled stuff being a helping hand. I tested my prejudices by trying out some of the peeled stuff--it lacked pizzazz, but I'm not cooking for a big family either. In the end a cook's gotta trust his/her own gut/palate/pocketbook.

I suppose, considering this, it has its place.

Edited August 25, 2009 by fooey (log)

[ray goud]

... That's the case, at least, with the Christopher Ranch product.

←

Thanks.

... If I wanted to infuse an oil with garlic, I would heat it hot enough and long enough to kill the anaerobic beasties, and then still refrigerate the oil anyway.

Ray

←

May I ask how you'd do that ? Do you know what's the domestic equivalent of a "12D process" (I know I don't !) ?

←

I would NOT do the heating-before-storage because I have no interest in garlic-infused oil. But if I did I might look at this document to get some pointers:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/FSRE_SS_3PrinciplesThermal.pdf

Or, then again, not.

Why not roast your garlic before you infuse it, like I slow-cook mine in a crock pot? One adds some oil to the cooker to aid in cooking (a couple of tablespoons of water also helps), then it cooks for about six hours. At the end it is a soft paste, should be devoid of any living beasties or their spores, and then you could add it to oil, or not, just add it directly to a dish being prepared.

Ray

[Pam R]

But that does pose a question for those who purchase the mega jars of peeled garlic from Costco-type stores...how long do they last in the refrigerator? Are they treated with something to allow them to keep or are you running against the clock and an expiration date once you open the jar?

←

Not the Costco jars, but we used to buy the gallon-jars of garlic for work and they do not last indefinitely. After a few weeks the garlic becomes somewhat slimy. And it smells off. For a couple of years we'd buy the garlic if we had a busy couple of weeks in the catering and knew we could use it up. But if we thought we wouldn't be able to finish it within a couple of weeks, forget it. Eventually, we decided to stop using it completely because we prefer fresh-peeled.

Having said that, I wonder if the garlic in the small packages is better. I bet the packaging could keep it better.

I did see some small bags of peeled garlic at a local grocery store. There was no brand, unless "Organic Garlic" is the brand, and it said it was from China, as is most of the garlic we get here. I'll pick up a bag next time I'm there and see how they are.

[heidih]

But that does pose a question for those who purchase the mega jars of peeled garlic from Costco-type stores...how long do they last in the refrigerator? Are they treated with something to allow them to keep or are you running against the clock and an expiration date once you open the jar?

←

Not the Costco jars, but we used to buy the gallon-jars of garlic for work and they do not last indefinitely. After a few weeks the garlic becomes somewhat slimy. And it smells off. For a couple of years we'd buy the garlic if we had a busy couple of weeks in the catering and knew we could use it up. But if we thought we wouldn't be able to finish it within a couple of weeks, forget it. Eventually, we decided to stop using it completely because we prefer fresh-peeled.

Having said that, I wonder if the garlic in the small packages is better. I bet the packaging could keep it better.

I did see some small bags of peeled garlic at a local grocery store. There was no brand, unless "Organic Garlic" is the brand, and it said it was from China, as is most of the garlic we get here. I'll pick up a bag next time I'm there and see how they are.

←

I mentioned upthread that I found the one packaged with 3 or 4 cloves to a small vac sealed bag packed inside a larger sealed bag tended to be and get slimy faster. A glass jar with a paper towel (which also works for berries and mushrooms) really works well. They never get slimy, just eventually look really "tired", and then they go in the compost bin.

[Blether]

I would NOT do the heating-before-storage because I have no interest in garlic-infused oil. But if I did I might look at this document to get some pointers:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/PDF/FSRE_SS_3PrinciplesThermal.pdf

Or, then again, not.

Why not roast your garlic before you infuse it...

Ray

←

Thanks for the link, Ray, that's very informative. When I asked the question I was also trying to recall where I read dougal's summary of the relevant temperatures, which I've since found again, here. In the same thread andiesenji made a persuasive argument for an hour in a 275F oven.

I guess there's no easy process that's going to leave raw-flavoured garlic suitable for keeping in oil for a long time.

Thanks too for your crockpot method. For myself, it looks like I'll be staying with make-and-use fresh in small quantities. Here in Tokyo I can get a string bag with about 20 heads of good-quality Chinese garlic for a couple of bucks (it costs twice as much for three heads of domestic garlic in a string bag). Every time I have to throw out excess garlic I wonder once again where I saw that recipe for soup "aux quarantes wotsits d'ail".

Edited August 25, 2009 by Blether (log)

[haresfur]

Now, looking at these how could anyone even contemplate using the pre-prepared stuff.

←

If it's more convenient and doesn't result in a loss of quality then it's easy to see how a rational person could contemplate using pre-peeled garlic. If it results in a loss of quality then that's another story. But so far nothing has been established. The only semi-objective analysis seems to be something done by Cook's Illustrated but I haven't read it.

←

I don't see how you are going to get a definitive answer to this. Seems to me fresh garlic is better if it is better or fresher garlic. Pre-prepared will be better if it is a better variety or stored better. I could easily see how my friends' organic farm specialty varieties might be better quality initially but with time might not keep as well. Maybe you should split a batch of garlic into unpeeled and peeled then store under the same conditions, sampling periodically to decide which is "better". Of course, that could depend on which varieties you chose and your subjective judgment of "better".

[djyee100]

I've been puzzled by one thing on this thread--people saying that the fresh garlic they can buy at the supermarket is crappy for most of the year. One of my favorite vendors at the farmers market grows a huge crop of garlic in the spring and sells the new crop of dried garlic heads starting in June. He sells the garlic from that one crop until October or so, when he's sold the entire crop. I thought he planted garlic continuously and dried it and sold it until the fall, but he said No--it was all the same crop he harvested in June. Last year around September I bought a big bagful of garlic from him and kept it in a cool, dry place, and it kept well until January, when it began to soften and mold and sprout.

What I'm trying to say is--garlic should keep. It's like a dried herb. People used to braid garlic in long strings and store them from the rafters (before central heating). What is it that commercial distributors and supermarkets are doing that the garlic should be of such bad quality most of the year?

Or to put it another way, if the stores and wholesalers are failing to store garlic well, so that it will stay dry and mold-free for months as it's supposed to--maybe then people should buy garlic when it is of good quality (like now) and store it themselves.

Anybody have thoughts about this?

[paulraphael]

Garlic does keep ... but that doesn't mean kept garlic is as good as fresh. And it's not really like a dried herb. It's an aromatic vegetable, just like an onion or shallot, and not dried in any way.

I can't speak to the issue of pre-peeled vs. fresh flavor. But i know that food scientists consider the flavor of garlic to be incredibly complex. The aromatic compounds in garlic are volatile, and many of them are created by chemicals in the garlic clove reacting with enzymes or with oxygen. These reactions involve many compounds ... they're triggered or accelerated by any damage to the garlic's flesh, and mostly halted by cooking.

It wouldn't be hard to imagine that peeled or storing garlic would cause changes. To get a practical answer, a blind test would make the most sense.

[David A. Goldfarb]

It's not that the typical US supermarket garlic isn't sufficiently fresh, but that it isn't particularly flavorful, like a lot of typical US supermarket produce. It's as if the scientists who have figured out how to cultivate the cosmetically perfect, absolutely flavorless Red Delicious apple have gone to work on garlic and produced something with a similar flavor profile.

[Darienne]

It's not that the typical US supermarket garlic isn't sufficiently fresh, but that it isn't particularly flavorful, like a lot of typical US supermarket produce.  It's as if the scientists who have figured out how to cultivate the cosmetically perfect, absolutely flavorless Red Delicious apple have gone to work on garlic and produced something with a similar flavor profile.

←

Now that is an excellent point!

[Fat Guy]

I don't see how you are going to get a definitive answer to this.  Seems to me fresh garlic is better if it is better or fresher garlic.  Pre-prepared will be better if it is a better variety or stored better.  I could easily see how my friends' organic farm specialty varieties might be better quality initially but with time might not keep as well.  Maybe you should split a batch of garlic into unpeeled and peeled then store under the same conditions, sampling periodically to decide which is "better".  Of course, that could depend on which varieties you chose and your subjective judgment of "better".

←

I don't think it would be so hard to devise some experiments that, combined with blind tasting, would give useful results. What I think is intriguing is that we have strong opinions being expressed by people who haven't even tried the product in question, and by people who have tried it maybe a couple of times under non-controlled circumstances. That leads me to think that the most powerful thing about fresh garlic could easily be the idea of fresh garlic.

I will at some point try to set up a real test.