Last year Mark Bittman wrote about the pleasures of peeled garlic for the Times, and boldly proclaimed his love of the garlic that comes by the handful instead of the bulb.
This was such a relief to me. I had been guiltily buying little plastic packets of garlic cloves at my local produce stand. I use huge amounts of garlic when I cook, especially in some international foods, and the routine of peeling garlic had gotten old.
But until Bittman declared it a worthy shortcut, I felt a little secretive about the way I supported my garlic habit. No delicate, papery bulbs in my kitchen, unless I'm making roasted garlic. No - I take cloves by the dozen out of the plastic box, and now I feel vindicated.
Some tips, however: I avoid the plastic jars in the regular grocery section, stuffed with garlic from who knows when and who knows where. I look instead for freshly packed trays of peeled cloves at my produce stand or farmers market. Also, I check for brown spots and any trace of slime.
In cooked dishes I do not taste a difference between these pre-peeled cloves and the ones I painstakingly remove from a bulb. In uncooked dishes and for roasted garlic, I do still try to use bulbs. But not always...
What about you? Are you a hardcore garlic bulb peeler and eater? Or do you indulge with me in the handfuls of garlic from the styrofoam trays?
Kitchen Art! Detail of Partially Peeled Head of Garlic, by Emily Zasada
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
I peel my own garlic--it's just not that big a deal to me. But I totally understand your choosing this shortcut, especially because you use so much garlic.
My semi-secret shortcut is using canned beans. On rare occasions, I'll start with dried beans and soak them, but the canned variety is so much more convenient and generally about as good. A similarly great moment for me was when esteemed chef David Burke said canned beans were just fine.
I peel my own garlic too, and it does get tiresome for some recipes (or days when I'm grumpy).
I tried bulk peeling my garlic and keeping it in a bin in the fridge, but the cloves all quickly sprouted. Any tricks for keeping them dormant?
Michelle, a while back we posted some tips about what to do "when good garlic goes green." Click my name for the link.
Unpealed garlic just lasts much longer, so that's what I keep around.
Since I work for a California grower of garlic I wanted to give some information.
1/2 of the peeled garlic in the US now comes from China. The product you find in the farmers markets many times are from China. 1/2 of the fresh garlic you see in grocery stores is from China. The way you tell the difference is if the bulb still has roots on it, that is domestic. The product with shaved root plate is from China
Garlic going green is because it is trying to grow. The garlic you eat is actually a seed and wants to grow. The best way to slow this process down is to store at 28 degrees.
Just some tips for the garlic lovers.
I'm not sure why people find peeling garlic a problem. Unless you want perfect shaped cloves, you should just slice off the end and slap it with the flat of your knife. Voila, the garlic pops right out. It's less than 10 seconds.
jeff from gilroy: so should we keep garlic in the freezer?
I find that the locally grown garlic I buy at the Greenmarkets in NYC is much easier to peel than the garlic from the grocery store.
I have seen a number of people here in Peru soak garlic cloves in order to soften the peel, making peeling much easier. This seems to only be useful when wanting to peel a large quantity of garlic cloves. Also, most people have garlic cloves pureed with a bit of oil to be handy when cooking. I do this with small quantities of already peeled garlic cloves that I purchase. I have always wondered why my puree doesn't look like the kind they sell at the store - it may have something to do with celery...but I am still looking into that...
Jeff in Gilroy - is that THE Gilroy? "Garlic Capital of the World"? I drove through there on a trip up the California coast last summer and wanted to stop so bad.... Thanks for the info!
And yes, peeling garlic cloves just takes a smash of a good knife and the paper shucks right off. Sometimes even that is just too much for me... :-)
I'll only buy the peeled garlic if I need about 30 cloves at once, say for roasted chicken. Otherwise I enjoy smashing my knife down on the cloves...it's a good way to relieve stress!
I was just wondering all of this the other day, so it's great information. How long does it usually take for garlic to start sprouting? What about shallots?
I can't remember where I saw it, but I just read about a trick for peeling lots of garlic cloves. You place individual unpeeled cloves in a stainless steel bowl. Place an identical (or similar)sized stainless bowl on top of the first one to form a ball. Then, shake it vigorously and magically the the peels come right off and you can pick the cloves out.
Chinese garlic has been tested for BRIX which is a measure of solids. The California grown product has 30% more solids and oils than that from China.
Interesting fact is that Chinese garlic will sometimes float in a glass of water (once peeled) where as Cal product will not.
Garlic in the freezer is okay but when it thaws it will look translucent and will have lost some of it's punch.
Garlic is a 9 month crop. It is planted in Sept-Nov and harvested June - August. This means garlic is freshest in the summer and wants to be planted in the fall (this is why it grows inside the clove). You can slow this process by keeping garlic in cold temperatures (28-32)but eventually the clove will win.
We actually store garlic in controlled atmosphere where we take out the oxygen and lower the temp to 28. This proces will "put the germ to sleep" until it comes out.
Jeff,
You mention that half the garlic in the US is Chinese garlic. Does this garlic taste the same as garlic from Gilroy? Someone told me that Chinese Garlic is mostly water.
Hallelujah, some validation for the pre-peeled garlic set! I too felt guilty about this as well, but I HATE, HATE, HATE peeling garlic! Why? I can't fully explain it, I just can't stand the monotony of it, just as I hate doing dishes and folding laundry.
When I do buy the peeled packs though, I immediately unwrap them and put them in a quart soup container lined with a paper towel. I go through them fast, but not fast enough that the moisture from their as-sold storage won't cause them to start to mold.
How do they peel the garlic in bulk? Is there any concern about chemical use?