BLACK GARLIC...

[manda]

Anybody else tried this?

To be honest I hadn't heard of it until a couple of weeks ago never mind tasted it but it's very popular in Korea and it seems the USA particularly .

A friend and I went to a local farmers market and someone was selling it….it was VERY expensive – well at $9 a bulb of garlic I thought so !!!
So I did what any sensible person would do I bought one LOL!! …and then I came home and we all tried it …it was lovely ..it’s kind of sweet and garlicky…………
………..and then I did the second thing any sensible person who likes living frugally does (because lets face it $9 a bulb isn’t frugal by any stretch of the imagination) and I looked up how to make black garlic and then after I had had my mind blown, looked up how to make black garlic at home.

Basically the bumpf said you need to slowly heat the garlic over weeks ….it seems lots of people make black garlic using a rice cooker on the warm cycle……Sooo I bought a second hand rice cooker which had a long warm function on it (24 hours) that I could reset every evening and a couple of bags of cheap garlic (not going to experiment with expensive stuff) and tonight the experiment started…



So the garlic is all wrapped in a foil package and the rice cooker has been set to warm....another 14 days and I'll find out if it's worked....I'll let you know

[Totally Scrambled]

Sound interesting but the photo does make it look like you're making your own crytal meth
Dom

[manda]

It's got a lovely taste and I can see why it's expensive because it's something that takes so long to make it...you can't hurry it or it won't work....but hopefully at the end it should be something like this

[p.penn]

Not heard of ot Manda, but looks interesting. I have tried smoked garlic, but it wasn't for me.

Hope it works for you!

[manda]

So do I because I really rather like it

My house has the sweet smell of warmed garlic floating through it ....it's developing nicely...apparently it dies down after day 3 or 4 ...I hope so my dear husband has already made several comments about the pungent aroma's wafting all over the place !!

I've just reset the warm button for the next 24 hours. ...just another 13 days to go

[Mo]

Well, I'm glad you're being frugal -
first buy your rice cooker.

[manda]

Mo...I wore the last one out and needed to get another one this is a great rice cooker so it won't just be used for doing this (which if it works will be an added bonus)...it only cost me $30 and that with a whole load of other bits and pieces (laundry baskets, knives,heaters) in an auction so I will sell those on and could well make the money back and if I'm lucky actually make a profit.

[manda]

Day 3...my house is now smelling of garlic..it'ssupposed to die down around day 3 or 4 my hubby said he reckons it doesn't you just can't smell it anymore because you've become acclimatised to it!
I think he may have a point...every now and again I get a whiff but this morning my friend came to pick our son up for school and said ...Oh you smell of garlic ....I was outside and I wasn't stood that close to her (she was sat in the car !!)

[Grannyof4]

It's yummy........

[manda]

Well it's day 7 so I decided I would take a bulb out so I could see how it's progressing.....Ooooeeee!!!!


It's getting there...still a bit wet so I've wrapped them back up and put them back in...I'll check them every couple of days now and in the meantime I've got the one I've taken out to see how it goes....seems like it's heading in the right direction though ...I'll keep my fingers crossed for now.

[saint-spoon]

And??? How is it?

[manda]

I'm taking it out today and I'm going to let it dry for a few days .....but I've used a couple of bulbs and it's really nice !!!

It's a very different taste ..there's this garlicky taste with a kind of fruity undertone and almost balsamic (but not quite) hint too...I'd say it's worth getting some or having a go at making it yourself just because.

Put it this way I'm thinking of buying a small benchtop oven so I can make it in that ...and keep the rice cooker for just cooking rice (because well it's a good rice cooker LOL!).
Even doing that I will be saving money and I like using it....so much so I want to continue to explore using it.

[manda]

and it's out of the cooker

I'm happy....I'm leaving them to dry out but they're looking good...It'll be interesting to see how they taste ..

The next pic - those top three bulbs look the same - the right hand one is the one I bought so they look right..now it's just for the taste...I'll be able to do that in a few days.


So all in all there's 24 bulbs left (I started off with 26 but used to to test) so working on $9 a bulb I think it's more than saved me money from that point of view....the 2bags of garlic were about $6 and I don't think the rice cooker cost huge amount run but even if it cost the price of 2 bulbs I'm still ahead and another 3 bulbs would pay for the rice cooker....and I still need to sell the other things that I bought to get the rice cooker.

[albertajune]

Manda, you never cease to amaze me

[manda]

Depends if it tastes OK June ....if it works I'll be a very happy me ...if it doesn't ...well I've not wasted too much on the garlic and I've gained a really good rice cooker ...and if I get my butt in gear and sell the other things that came with it I reckon I will have paid nothing for any of this other than the power (happy dance )

I wonder what the difference will be if I grow some...and I'm thinking elephant garlic so they'd be huge cloves or just the fact that it's home grown organic and all that jazz...it's going to be interesting because now I can have a play with other things.

I checked the bulbs this morning and they've already started to firm up so it's looking good from that point.