White People Discover Black Garlic

Published on Friday, March 25, 2011, by James Norton / Edit Post

The Daily Mail reports that an ancient kitchen standby, garlic, has been markedly improved upon. The trick is fermentation, which turns the cloves black, gives the stuff a sweeter taste, and makes it considerably kinder to the breath. (It also makes it into a marketer's dream.)

Pushed in Britain by a marketing company called, naturally, Black Garlic (which charges the equivalent of $4 for a two-bulb bag), the stuff has benefits beyond its breath-saving properties, writes the paper:

"It enjoys twice the amount of anti-oxidants of the pale variety and can last twice as long on the shelf. And like all garlic it is good for your cardiovascular system, high in natural sugars and amino-acids and is low in fat."

Worth noting: Before black garlic became trendy a couple years back thanks to the New York Times proclaiming it a new staple of modern cuisine and Black Garlic pushing it into high-end European kitchens, it was an old familiar standby in Asian cuisine. Which raises an interesting question: What's the next new staple (or at least temporary craze) to spring forth from the almost limitlessly deep back benches of the Chinese or Indian cuisines?

Image source: blackgarlic.com

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  • That has got to be one of the stupidest titles I've seen in awhile.

  • Just you wait until black people discover white garlic.

  • so its just white garlic cloves that got old and "molded?"

  • Mullet roe, which I always beg people to bring me from Taiwan, and which lines the streets in my aunt's seaside town in the wintertime.

    Except the marketing geniuses who mainstream it will package it in Japan, or import Italian bottarga instead, so they can charge four times more.

  • The black garlic wasn't good enough Vorpal? Racist! Just kidding.

    Love the title of this piece, FUNNY!

  • I thought the link to an article called "White People Discover Black Garlic" would take me to The Onion. What a bizarre headline.

  • The other day I was in Dean & Deluca and saw of bottle of something Italian - tiny bottle, for $30. Looking it over I realized it had one ingredient - fermented anchovies. It was fish sauce. Same one ingredient that goes into every fish sauce you can get in the US. Only it was made in Italy instead of Southeast Asia, so it was $30 for a 50ml bottle.

    But it seems most sensible food-people know...+READ

    The other day I was in Dean & Deluca and saw of bottle of something Italian - tiny bottle, for $30. Looking it over I realized it had one ingredient - fermented anchovies. It was fish sauce. Same one ingredient that goes into every fish sauce you can get in the US. Only it was made in Italy instead of Southeast Asia, so it was $30 for a 50ml bottle.

    But it seems most sensible food-people know about fish sauce already, so that's only there for the occasional idiot.

    But all that aside, "Black Garlic" - the stuff we're talking about here - was invented in 2005. People in the states have been passing it off as some long-secret but newly-discovered ingredient. That's just marketing, though.

    It's also not even technically "fermented" as there's no bacteria involved in the process, it's just aged for a long time at a somewhat high heat, but low enough that it doesn't simply dry out, breaking down the cellular structure, and concentrating the sugars. Good stuff, but until they really industrialize the production and bring down the cost, not sure it's worth the price.-COLLAPSE

  • Ha James, thank you for giving proper deference and context to the origins of this item.

    I am married to a Taiwanese woman and it bothers me to no end when I see expensive "new" items pop up in local FancyStores™ that I know her relative poor, working class family has been eating their entire lives. Often there is little or no real acknowledgment of the roots or humble beginnings of these...+READ

    Ha James, thank you for giving proper deference and context to the origins of this item.

    I am married to a Taiwanese woman and it bothers me to no end when I see expensive "new" items pop up in local FancyStores™ that I know her relative poor, working class family has been eating their entire lives. Often there is little or no real acknowledgment of the roots or humble beginnings of these items (ostensibly because this would cut into the outrageous profit margins). Goji berries are a great example... suddenly trendy people who like "Asian things" are willing to pay top dollar for a whole lot of marketing hype. But go to a local Chinese pharmacy and there's no hype, and the cost is low. In fact, you'll find intensely un-trendy people buying them, like 85 year old grandmas, because it's part of their history and culture.

    Thanks for presenting this story in a reasoned, balanced, non-hypey manner.

    Mr Taster-COLLAPSE

  • I was highly disappointed with black garlic when I decided to waste a few dollars and try it. Expensive, extremely mild, and not particularly useful for anything I could think of. I would much rather use home roasted garlic at a fraction of the price instead.

  • could some one tell me what stinging nettles are and where would one find it to buy i see a picture of it on site and that you have to be careful to remove the nettles it looks like pine needles what is it grown for and were very strange green help ???? my e-mail nydiajoa@yahoo.com as far as black garlic i would rather not and use regular garlic new fad maybe both are curious thanks to whom ever...+READ

    could some one tell me what stinging nettles are and where would one find it to buy i see a picture of it on site and that you have to be careful to remove the nettles it looks like pine needles what is it grown for and were very strange green help ???? my e-mail nydiajoa@yahoo.com as far as black garlic i would rather not and use regular garlic new fad maybe both are curious thanks to whom ever lets me know appreciate it-COLLAPSE

  • Perhaps my local produce market is letting their garlic spoil at too low a temperature. Or maybe it needs to be done to Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "Black Music for White People", whatever, does the world really need $2 garlic cloves?

  • Woody, there are "how to"s on Google. Basically, it's keeping garlic heated at a high temperature for like 2 weeks or a month. (I forgot the details).

  • Its just like the wine procedure...i can break it down if you would like...

  • How does one ferment garlic at home?