Black garlic bulb cross section
Black garlic is garlic that has been cooked for about one month at around 140 degrees F. The cooking has a lot in common with cooking camas bulbs. Camas is a plant native to our region that the local Native Americans slow cooked for several days to obtain a sweet food that was an important part of their diet in some areas of the Pacific Northwest. The slow cooking was necessary because raw camas contains a lot of inulin. Inulin is a poly-fructose which is not digestible directly by people. Eating raw food that contains a lot of inulin causes digestive upset and excessive gas. The slow cooking converts inulin to fructose which is not only easily digested, is is very sweet. Cooking the garlic into Black Garlic has several other effects. The most surprising to many folks is that Black Garlic has lost most of the famous (infamous?) odor and bite of raw garlic. In addition, the cooked garlic develops a slight tart character. The garlic flavor, though changed, is not removed. The resulting Black Garlic is a sweet-tart treat with a unique garlic based taste The medicinal quality of garlic is undoubtedly changed by cooking it into black garlic. There are claims “out there”on the internet that Black Garlic is a wonder food/ medicine, primarily because of high antioxidant content. We do not wish to be hassled by the United States government for supplying any information on this aspect of Black Garlic. We suggest that if you wish, you can find such information on the internet. We only suggest that you try tasting Black Garlic. We like it as a treat. Black Garlic has been a “wild card”ingredient on some television cooking shows. We do not claim to be gourmet chefs and have not developed recipes to share, yet. As this segment of Afternoon Zephyr’s business develops, we will add recipes. Stay tuned!