"Kissing Garlic"

[liuzhou]

Quote

Help is on the way for cooks and diners who love the taste of garlic but hold back from eating it for fear it will cause bad breath and indigestion.

 

 

Italian entrepreneurs hope diners will get their teeth into 'kissing garlic'
 

Edited April 25, 2016 by liuzhou (log)

[IowaDee]

Hum, it sounds like a relative of elephant garlic but maybe older.  Maybe mastodon garlic?  I'd give it a try in a second.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Thanks for the link liuzhou. It's always good when someone strives to bring something back from near extinction. Monoculture is dangerous IMO, but it is proliferating at a frightening rate.

 

I also enjoyed reading the comments, many of which agreed with me that without the distinct, sharp flavor of garlic, what's the point. That said, who doesn't like slow roasted conventional garlic which mutes the sharpness, and sweetens the flavor?

[Deryn]

I always solved the problem by making sure that whoever I wanted to kiss/be kissed by also ate garlic so neither minded.

 

IowaDee - my first thought was also that it must be related to Elephant Garlic. I looked Elephant Garlic up and it seems that Elephant Garlic doesn't contain allicin either and is actually more related to leeks and onions than it is to garlic. Learned something new - Elephant Garlic's name is somewhat of a misnomer apparently.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Deryn (log)

[Franci]

Outside Italy the idea is that Italians eat a lot of garlic. In reality there is a garlic phobia, you learn to cook with a garlic clove gently cooked in oil so it release some flavor and you can the scoop it out. They most of the people cannot digest it and will stay away from garlicky dishes.

I've heard of pici all'aglione but I know they are particularly from an area in Tuscany, so, never had the pleasure to try them.

Edited April 25, 2016 by Franci (log)

[Wayne]

 

I would agree that the 'garlic' in the article is indeed a variety of elephant garlic. The article states an absence of allicin and that the garlic was propagated by seeds. Neither of these traits are characteristic of garlic but they are of other alliums such as leeks.

 

I once dated a woman who wouldn't touch garlic, or any allium for the matter. It was doomed from the start

 

 

Edited April 25, 2016 by Wayne
word substitution (log)

[pufin3]

I know I may be generalizing but in fifty years cooking professionally and in my own kitchen I think I have only smelt 'garlic breath' on a few people I knew well enough to breath around them.

In each case I felt that the person's body chemistry was causing the 'garlic breath.

We eat a LOT of garlic each week. It's always sauteed or steamed or roasted. We don't eat it raw.

We have never noticed any 'garlic breath.

[liuzhou]

It is interesting that the two countries I know which consume garlic most, China and India, also have the highest of the world's populations. Whether they kiss or not, I don't know, but their reproductive power isn't in doubt.

[IowaDee]

Lol and not a vampire to be found anywhere around either!