Garlic in a pinch

GrateEggspectations

Nothing revolutionary or innovative here, but I thought I’d share this tidbit of kitchen prep that has been good to me over the years. 

We go through a lot of garlic in this household (possibly approaching Ashish-level), and usually buy fresh weekly just so that we have it on hand. However, given we have a busy household, this is not always possible, and I hate being caught without ingredients I deem essential if I decide to make something on the fly. 

In addition to having a supply of fresh garlic, I’ve taken to blending cloves with oil in the Vitamix and then freezing them in ice cube trays, to be popped into a recipe on the fly when the need arises. Also a good approach if my fresh garlic is beginning to turn. 

S-I-L bought a tub of peeled garlic yesterday and dropped off half (along with a homemade chicken soup!). I promptly prepped the garlic for the freezer. Can be a convenient time-saver in a pinch. 

Just be sure not to go back to using the ice cube trays for ice afterwards. 🙃 I label the actual trays to avoid confusion. 

Canugghead

For Indian cooking we use frozen garlic ginger paste cubes. No need to mess with peeling, chopping and cleaning up every time.

Ozzie_Isaac

I (don't shame me) use the garlic paste in a tube for a lot of my cooking.  I will use fresh garlic depending on the dish, but for 85% of my garlic this is what I use.  I do use a lot of it, it isn't a "just a dab will do ya".  its more like a kid squeezing toothpaste all over the counter type of amounts. (Edit: WTF?  Now we have giant pictures in Vanilla!??)

Battleborn

I’m in the fresh garlic camp, however, we always have some jarlic in the fridge. I like your hack better. 

GrateEggspectations

Canugghead said:

For Indian cooking we use frozen garlic ginger paste cubes. No need to mess with peeling, chopping and cleaning up every time.

Yes, I would expect that would be helpful for making tons of Chinese, Thai, etc. as well. Maybe not as practical for French or Italian. 🙂

Canugghead

bump 

GrateEggspectations

@Canugghead

Lol. Just padding my post count. I knew I had posted such a thing before, but couldn’t remember when and didn’t want to search. Thought it was longer ago. 

Stay tuned for a new take in six to seven months.

poster

Check out Rotten on Netflix, the episode on garlic. It is interesting and disturbing at the same time.