Garlic

Garlic

Store

Store in an open container at room temperature, in the shade. Whole heads last longer than separated cloves.

Read about Botulism. It's a deadly disease you can get by improperly storing garlic/oil mixtures or other things.

Check

Garlic with access to sunlight will start sprouting. A little bit of green won't hurt you but the flavor is different.

Some cloves might get tiny brown spots. Cut them off and use the rest of the clove. If it's more rotten throw it away.

Peel

The outer peel of the garlic clove should be removed. But the peels of the individual cloves are fine, if you are only using the garlic for flavor and removing it, or if you're baking the whole head.

To peel, first separate into cloves, then cut off the brown part of the clove and the peel should come out easily. You can also smash it instead of cutting, but cutting allows you to look inside and see if it was close to sprouting.

Chop

Garlic can be used in various shapes:

  1. Whole
  2. Crushed
  3. Sliced
  4. Minced
  5. Paste

The factors that inform your choice are:

  1. Will you cook it long enough to extract the flavor? The larger the pieces are, the more time they need.
  2. Do you want the strong spicy flavor, or just the sweetness? The more you cut garlic the more spicyness comes out. But that might be fine if it's desireable for the recipe. Or you might cook it long enough to smooth out the flavor.
  3. Do you want garlic chunks in the dish? Garlic paste will melt and disappear. Large chunks can be removed. But medium chunks are there to stay.

Use it up

Hummus
😓️peeling chickpeas is tiring
Hummus
Tomato Sauce
🔪chopping
Tomato Sauce
Pinjur
🔪chopping
Пинџур (Pinjur)