This week's question: Where can I find Black Garlic?
Black garlic has been touted as a top food trend and a super health food, and it's been featured on Top Chef and Iron Chef episodes. Yet it remains an obscure ingredient, not easily sourced even at specialty food stores or Asian markets in Phoenix.
I first tasted it at the 2010 Specialty Food Show in San Francisco this past January.
Tasting black garlic was a surprise. The bitter notes found in raw garlic are absent. The black garlic has an earthy, mild, fruity quality. The consistency is soft; it is surprisily sweet and slightly sticky. On my tongue, it was reminiscent of aged balsamic vinegar that has been reduced, with an added hint of molasses. Black garlic has that fifth dimension of taste, unami.
So where can you get it?
Sadly, not around here -- at least, not that I've found.
Black garlic can be ordered on-line.
It's an ingredient that can easily be applied to add flavor and dimension to a dish. Simply using it as a topping it on a bruschetta is a great introduction. Find recipes and where to order on Black Garlic Inc's website.
Do you have a question for Carol the Cook? Leave it in the comment section below and she might just answer it in a future post.
