How to make black garlic
What is black garlic?
Black garlic has been enjoyed in East Asian cuisine for thousands of years, thanks to its rich, sweet and savoury flavour.
Essentially, it’s whole garlic cloves that have been fermented for any time from several weeks to several months. This process transforms both the flavour and texture of the garlic, removing the bite and giving it a sweet, earthy, and slightly tangy taste. It also increases the concentration of antioxidants in the garlic, which can help to boost your immune system.
Ways to use your black garlic
- Stir a spoonful into garlic mayonnaise and serve alongside crispy battered vegetables or chicken for dipping
- Add to your next stir fry
- Spread onto buttered toast before topping with grated cheddar, Comté or Gruyère, melt the cheese under the grill for an umami-rich cheese on toast
- Halve, score and season a couple of aubergines before spreading Greek yoghurt and several cloves over the cut surface. Grill until the aubergines are tender and serve with flatbreads and salad
- Use in the base of a winter soup
- Add a heaped spoonful to beef mince or crushed black beans, finely chopped shallot and breadcrumbs before shaping into patties and shallow frying until piping hot throughout for a super savoury burger
How to make your own black garlic
INGREDIENTS
- 15 – 25 bulbs of garlic
To get your garlic fermenting, you need to warm it gently, usually for several weeks. The easiest way to do this is using a slow cooker on the ‘warm’ setting.
Be warned: the cloves give off a fairly pungent aroma, so you may want to keep yours in the garden shed or pantry if you’re lucky enough to have one.
- Prepare the slow cooker: scrunch up some aluminium foil and place on the bottom of the inside of the slow cooker to stop the garlic from getting too hot.
- Place the garlic cloves in the slow cooker, you can add as many as you like but put a few layers of kitchen roll in between each layer of the garlic bulbs you put in.
- Dampen a few more layers of kitchen roll slightly and put them on top of the garlic before closing the lid.
- Put your slow cooker on the ‘warm’ setting, you don’t need to cook it, just raise the temperature slightly.
- Check the garlic every 2-3 days. You can see how it should change in our pictures. If the garlic feels too dry and crispy then moisten your kitchen towel and replace.
- When the garlic is ready it should be soft, dark, and have a rich, sweet flavour.
- Once the garlic is ready, remove it from the slow cooker and store it in an airtight container in the fridge. It should keep for several months.
If that sounds like a lot of work…
Then why not buy a bottle of our award-winning Black Garlic Ketchup.