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  • From: "Bill Bradshaw" <billbradshaw AT hughes.net>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] "Black Garlic" -- anyone ever hear of this?
  • Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 12:06:42 -0600

Just doing a quick read. It looks as thought black garlic is fermented and used as a food ingredient. As in cooking with. I could find nothing on black garlic being a type of plant. Bill in Texas


----- Original Message ----- From: "Alliums" <garlicgrower AT green-logic.com>
To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 9:25 AM
Subject: [Market-farming] "Black Garlic" -- anyone ever hear of this?




Hi, Folks!

See article from today's Philadelphia Inquirer Food Section. I never heard
of "black garlic" before today. I wonder if it's going to be a quick fad or
if there is a value-added opportunity there. . .

Dorene in Southeastern PA

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/food/20100107_Garlic_in_a_new_hue__Black.html

Garlic in a new hue: Black

By Dianna Marder

Inquirer Staff Writer

Black garlic? Yes, indeed.

It is nothing more than garden-variety garlic, Allium sativum, that is
fermented with heat for 30 days and packaged to sell for twice the price,
but the taste is entirely different. You can eat it raw or cooked without
experiencing heartburn or garlic breath.

And while black garlic is not entirely new, it is most likely new to you.

First imported from South Korea by a California-based company,
BlackGarlic.com, in 2008, black garlic appeared in dishes at Bix in San
Francisco and Le Bernardin in Manhattan. It showed up among the ingredients
on the Food Network's Top Chef and Iron Chef America shows. It has appeared
on some local menus (Fork, Zahav). And you may be inclined to try it at home
in 2010.

You'll find it at Wegman's in Cherry Hill (a two-ounce bag for $4) or
Iovine's in the Reading Terminal Market (two bulbs for $5.99).

Such is the price of fame, and, maybe, health.

Brian Han, who works in sales at BlackGarlic.com, says the company's initial
intent was to market it as a "natural food medicine," which is the other hot
trend in home foods for 2010.

"It is high in antioxidants," Han says, "but we found out that to get the
benefit, you have to eat a whole lot of it."

Soon after, Han says, "Bix restaurant used it on a lamb chop and everybody
heard about it and that's how we changed our marketing."

At Fork restaurant in Old City, chef Terence Feury, who abhors trends, says
he got samples of black garlic in the summer of 2008 and used it in a sauce
with roasted corn for his soft-shell crabs. Loved it, he said, but when the
soft-shell season ended, he somehow never went back to it.

"That's the way it is with some ingredients," Feury says. "Fennel pollen
came and went."

But black garlic is nothing to ho-hum about, Feury says. "It packs a lot of
flavor into a small package. I really liked it."

Just as kimchi is fermented cabbage, black garlic is garlic that has been
fermented with heat.

"Nothing else," says Han. "No soy sauce added, like some people think."

When heated at a fairly high temperature for 30 days, the natural sugar in
the garlic is drawn out and the result is a bulb with a tan exterior and
peeled cloves that are black.

(By the way, elephant garlic is a different variety, more closely related to
a leek. It has a very mild garlic flavor and a texture that's more like a
potato.)

Han says the company is moving toward buying more of the stuff from
California growers instead of importing. For now, he sells it online fresh
in bulbs, peeled in jars, as puree in jars, and as a concentrated juice for
use in salad dressings and in cooking soups and stews.

Peeling the cloves will leave a bit of residue under your fingernails and on
your cutting board. But black garlic is nowhere near as messy as salsify.
(You remember salsify, of course. That was the "in" root vegetable of the
year in 2006. But salsify left a white, gooey substance on cutting surfaces,
and added little in the way of flavor to compensate for the mess and
bother.)

"I love black garlic," Zahav chef Michael Solomonov declared in a recent
interview. He describes the sweet but savory taste as between tamarinds and
dates.

Steep it in warm water for three to four days, he says, then puree before
adding it to a recipe. That way, the flavor is not as pungent and won't
overwhelm the dish.

Solomonov adds black garlic to the seasonings in ground veal for his grape
leaves, but says it also works in soups. And he imagines making a black
garlic ice cream when the weather warms up.

"Or steep in vodka for a Bloody Mary," he says dreamily.

I tried it at home several ways: spread on a cracker and topped with a bit
of smoked salmon (great); sliced thin and baked into the crust of white
pizza (very yummy); mashed and cooked briefly with balsamic vinegar and
white wine as a sauce for seared scallops (see recipe) and blended with
Amaretto and sherry as a poaching sauce for fresh nectarines (see recipe).

My guests agreed that eating a sliver raw on a cracker is the best way to
get to know the flavor of this ingredient before cooking with it.

Black garlic is not a substitute for white garlic. I didn't try it in the
classic Italian recipe Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic, but my bet is that
you'd want to use far fewer than 40 cloves, and the result would be an
Asian, not an Italian, dish.

Dan Vena, the fourth generation in the family at Vena Produce in the Food
Distribution Center, is a local distributor.

"I took some home and messed around with it," Vena said. "People are scared
of it at first, but it's pretty cool stuff."




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Poached Tangerines in Black Garlic Syrup
Makes 4 servings


4 ripe tangerines

2 cloves peeled black garlic, very finely chopped

3 ounces dry sherry

3 ounces almond liqueur (e.g. Amaretto)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract


1. Peel the tangerines, separate into segments and remove the seeds.

2. Put the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan and heat until
simmering.

3. Add the tangerine segments and poach for 8 minutes.

4. Remove the tangerines and place them in a glass serving bowl.

5. Reduce the juices in the pan until a syrupy consistency is reached.

6. Pour the juices over the tangerines.

7. Chill until ready to serve.

- From www.blackgarlic.com
Per serving: 157 calories, 1 gram protein, 21 grams carbohydrates, 17 grams
sugar, trace fat, no cholesterol, 3 milligrams sodium, 2 grams dietary fiber


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Scallops With Black Garlic Sauce
Makes 4 servings


16 extra-large scallops (about 1 1/2 pounds), patted very dry

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

3 cloves black garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 cup white wine

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped


1. Season the dry scallops with salt and pepper.

2. Heat two tablespoons of the butter in a large frying pan over high heat;
when the butter bubbles, gently lay the scallops in the pan, allowing enough
room so that they do not touch.

3. Sear the scallops, cooking about 4 minutes, turning once. They should be
golden brown on both sides. Transfer to a serving platter.

4. Add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the hot pan, plus the garlic
slices, and fry until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Pour the white wine and
the balsamic vinegar into the pan and turn down the heat. Simmer for one
minute, seasoning with more salt and pepper and the fresh parsley.

5. Pour the sauce over the scallops. Or serve on a bed of linguine, tossed
with extra virgin olive oil and chopped fresh herbs.

- From www.blackgarlic.com
Per serving: 264 calories, 26 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrates, trace
sugar, 13 grams fat, 74 milligrams cholesterol, 456 milligrams sodium, trace
dietary fiber


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

Contact staff writer Dianna Marder at 215-854-4211 or
dmarder AT phillynews.com. Read her recent work at
http://go.philly.com/diannamarder.

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