From Cookipedia
Jump to: navigation, search

* We now have 387 recipes that contain garlic in copious quantities - thanks to the hard work of our garlic fiend

New season's garlic from Avignon's indoor market

Garlic (Allium sativum) is widely used around the world for its pungent flavour, as a seasoning or condiment. The flavour varies in intensity and aroma with cooking methods. It is often paired with onion, tomato, or ginger. The parchment-like skin is much like the skin of an onion, and is typically removed before using in raw or cooked form. An alternative is to cut the top off the bulb, coat cloves of garlic by dribbling olive oil (or other oil based seasoning) over them and roast them in the oven. The garlic softens and can be extracted from the cloves by squeezing the (root) end of the bulb or individually by squeezing one end of the clove. The quickest and cleanest way to extract garlic is to use a garlic press. The skin does not even need to be removed f the press is good.

In Chinese cuisine, the young bulbs are pickled for 3-6 weeks in a mixture of sugar, salt and spices. In Russia and the Caucasus, the shoots are pickled and eaten as an appetiser.

It is widely used with kebabs, mezes and various meals in Turkish cuisine.

Immature scapes are tender and edible. They are also known as 'garlic spears', 'stems', or 'tops'. Scapes generally have a milder taste than cloves. They are often used in stir frying or prepared like asparagus. Garlic leaves are a popular vegetable in many parts of Asia, particularly Chinese, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian and Korean cuisines. The leaves are cut, cleaned and then stir fried with eggs, meat, or vegetables.

Elephant garlic and normal garlic cloves

Garlic is essential to several Mediterranean dishes. Mixing garlic with eggs and olive oil produces aioli ("garlic and oil" in Provençal). The Spanish variant does not use eggs. Garlic, oil, and a chunky base produce skordalia (from the Greek and Italian names of garlic). Blending garlic, almond, oil and soaked bread produces ajoblanco (ajo blanco is Spanish for "white garlic"). Le Tourin is a French garlic soup.

In Asia, garlic is fundamental to Korean and Thai cuisine. In Chinese cuisine, it is usually chopped or crushed and stir fried with chopped ginger and other aromatics in oil as the basis of sauces. Japanese cuisine uses very little garlic.

Single-clove garlic (solo garlic)

Garlic along with ginger form the basis for most of the Indian curries and cooked varieties of rice such as pulao, biriyani, coconut rice etc.

Peeling garlic in a Thermomix

You can peel it in the TM by separating into cloves, cutting off the root and processing at Speed 4 / Reverse Blade /3-6 seconds.

How to peel garlic easily by hand

There may be other ways but I find this to be the quickest and easiest way to peel garlic. .

Dried garlic

Dried garlic is very useful for making powdered spice mixes where the moisture from fresh garlic would be undesirable, such as Taco seasoning. About 1/4 teaspoon of dried powdered garlic or dry minced garlic or is equivalent to one fresh clove.

Elephant garlic

Elephant garlic is a variety of garlic that is much larger than normal garlic. Its flavour is extremely mild and onion like, so for real garlic afficinados, it's probably better used as a roasted vegetable or an accompaniment than a garlic substitute. Try our elephant garlic purée.

Roasting garlic for purée

Try our step by step recipe for roasted garlic purée.

Make a garlic paste and freeze it in usable portions. It lasts for months, just snap-off the amount you need.

Great with:

  • Any savoury food - the list is too long!

How much does one cup of garlic flakes weigh?

Estimated US cup to weight equivalents:

Ingredient US Cups Grams Ounces
Garlic Flakes
140 grams 5 ounces

Conversion notes:


Seasonal Information: Garlic


Garlic is at its best and in season during the following months: July, August, September & October.

See also

Find recipes that contain 'Garlic'